Legend review: Even two Tom Hardys cannot make up for this overwhelmingly forgettable film

Legend had everything going for it – Tom Hardy in a double role playing real life British gangsters, writer director Brian Helgeland who has earlier written LA Confidential, one of the best gangster movies of all time, and a heavyweight supporting cast of David Thewlis, Chris Eccleston and Chazz Palminteri. With so many elements in place it’s quite a surprise that Legend is quite an underwhelming and forgettable movie. [caption id=“attachment_2533490” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Screengrab from YouTube[/caption] The film chronicles the lives of the Kray twins who wrecked havoc (or made it more sprightly, whichever way you see it) in London in the 60’s. The disappointment begins here because that’s about it, there’s nothing new to look forward to. You only get the clichéd plot arcs seen dozens of times before in other gangster biopics including Black Mass which came three months ago. The Krays run in with various gangs and the cops, and one of the twins falls for Frances (Emily Borwning) who narrates throughout the film much like the voiceover of Goodfellas. You see the twins rise and then fall. End of story. While one might argue that a filmmaker can’t make a real life story more interesting with fictional elements, it’s impossible to deny Helgeland’s lack of focus on what the film should be about. Throughout the film the focus keeps shifting from the Krays’ dynamics to the romance with Frances. The former is fascinating to watch because Hardy plays two very distinct characters with special ticks and quirks, but the latter seems so silly it’s almost cartoonish in execution. The film never makes an effort into digging into the psyche of the Krays, you never get to know why these two have become the way they are. Even if you’re a fan of Hardy you’ll be left a bit cold. Sure, he plays two very different characters but again that’s about it. The reason why Hardy is such a beloved actor is that he manages to really get under your skin. His performance in Bronson for instance went the whole hog when it comes to displaying vulnerability even in invincibility. In this film, however, his roles are replete with overbearing mannerisms with a focus on ‘looking cool’. It’s all very surface level, and his darker twin speaks in pretty much the tone of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. The only time the film blows you away is when one of the twins does a spot on impersonation of the other – this is of course hilarious because both the people are played by Hardy. Faring much worse, however, is Helgeland’s direction which either pays extremely heavy homage to Scorsese or straight away rips off his technique depending on how you see it. As hard as it is to believe, there is a whole sequence in Legend that reminds you of the long tracking shot from Goodfellas. This film unfortunately doesn’t have the panache of Scorsese’s work nor the nastiness to make some impact. What Helgeland’s direction espouses is smarminess and a general air of sneering contempt that is transposed more onto the audience than onto the story. Often times it juxtaposes brutal murders and bashing with Guy Ritchie style playful music, which works really well, but once those scenes are over it’s back to the sneering. Ultimately as a demo for showing Hardy’s range on screen, Legend is a fairly good attempt but as a gangster epic this is neither fun nor deeply nuanced. A far more capable filmmaker could have made this film live up to its title.