Frances lives in the East End along with the Krays. She narrates the story by voiceover, which, as is the case most of the time it’s used in a film, isn’t needed, or is simply there to fill in the holes the story on screen does not. (In real life, Ronnie was bisexual.)Įarly on, Reggie falls, and falls hard, for Frances Shea (Emily Browning). He is openly gay, an acknowledgement that stuns an American mobster (Chazz Palminteri) who is in town to do business with the brothers. Ronnie wears unfashionable glasses and doesn’t like taking his psychiatric drugs, with predictably unpredictable results. But in comparison, he is not a cold-blooded psychopathic killer who relishes the fight more than anything else, like Ronnie. Reggie dresses in suits and is the brains of the operation. But the telling of their story is simplistic, something the complex performance by Hardy draws into even sharper relief. The film is based on the brothers, who weren’t much as criminals in the 1960s but made a name for themselves as kind of Swinging London celebrity mobsters. Unfortunately, that’s not such a good thing. While a couple of scenes in which he appears as both men look a little choppy, you quickly stop thinking about the novelty and pay more attention to the story being told. And the dual performance is no mere stunt. It always is that “great” description above should be included with every introduction of the actor. It’s not that Hardy’s performance isn’t up to snuff.
And once again, we are reminded of the adage about being careful what you wish for.
You can’t make the same complaint about “Legend,” Brian Helgeland’s film about real-life twin mobsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray - Hardy plays both of them. It’s difficult to say anything was disappointing about the terrific “Mad Max: Fury Road,” but there was a slight twinge when it became apparent that, even though the great Tom Hardy plays the title role, it wasn’t really his movie.