LEGEND

Starring: Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, Christopher Eccleston

Writer: Brian Helgeland

Director: Brian Helgeland

Here's another version of the true-life story of Ronnie and Reggie Kray and how their organised crime business flourished in 1960s London. Obviously the Kemp brothers were unavailable to reprise their roles so this latest version has to settle for some guy called Tom Hardy playing both roles. Has he been in anything else recently? What, that Mad Max thing? Oh, right...

Of course, a lot of the buzz surrounding LA Confidential screenplay scribe Helgeland's take on an oft-told tale has centred on Tom Hardy as Reggie appearing alongside Tom Hardy as Ronnie and it has to be said that he is terrific in both roles to the point where it's easy to forget that it's the same guy. He plays Reggie as attractive, confident, driven and sure of pretty much everything he wants from life. His Ronnie, on the other hand, is awkward, withdrawn and with who knows what bubbling just under the surface - could be a joke, could be an encouraging comment, could be a non-sequitur, could be a burst of nauseating violence. He intimidates just by being in the room.

Hardy is mesmerising in his portrayal of both brothers and he is clearly Legend's ace card - well, two ace cards. Awards potential? I'd say so. Which is not to say that the rest of the cast is exactly shabby either. In fact, it's bursting with quality, whether it's Eccleston as dogged copper Nipper Read, David Thewlis as the Krays' savvy business associate (and catalyst for their empire's eventual downfall) Leslie Payne or Sam Spruell as the rather creepy Jack "The Hat" McVitie. Tara Fitzgerald also manages to make an impact in a smaller role as Frances' mum and a flashpoint involving her character and Ronnie is both scary and darkly amusing.

As the female lead, Emily Browning shines as Frances: an intelligent girl who would have been destined for bigger and better things had she not been fatally hamstrung by her psychological fragility. Although the movie makes it clear why people would have found Reggie Kray a charming man it's Browning's character who elicits most of our sympathy. We may not agree with the some of choices she made but we can understand why she made them and Browning makes us feel genuine concern for Frances. She's a normal girl who just wants to be happy but can she possibly find that happiness with Reggie?

With such impeccable work from the cast, it's something of a disappointment that the movie itself doesn't quite match their level of skill. The main issue with trying to cram the entire reign of the Krays into just over two hours whilst also attempting to explore the relationship between Reggie and Frances inevitably means that the plot tends to dash between major events dotted across a period of several years and it doesn't fully exploit the potential of certain threads - for instance, a subplot involving the excellent Chazz Palminteri's Mafia guy from Chicago seems a bit of an afterthought and doesn't particularly go anywhere.

Elsewhere, the gangland warfare between the Krays and "south of the River" boss Charlie Richardson (the always reliable Paul Bettany) is dealt with fairly swiftly so anyone expecting long stretches of gory gangster violence may feel a tad let down. Personally I preferred the approach Legend takes here, especially as this portion of the movie concludes with a fine joke involving England's disputed third goal in the 1966 World Cup Final.

Quibbles aside (and there are many of them, it has to be said), there's still enough here to hold your average audience member's interest for the running time and the movie takes an admirably unglamourous approach to the violence portrayed within. The fact that the fights, stabbings and shootings are generally so matter-of-fact makes it all the more sickening and there's one particular moment where the 18 certificate is duly warranted.To be fair, the movie had already earned that with its frequent and aggressive use of the c-word so the more sensitive souls amongst us might want to give this flick a wide berth. For the rest of us, this is a stylish, adult drama which doesn't really give us any fresh insights into what made the Krays tick but delivers the (ill-gotten) goods and a slew of impressive performances.