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The Kray Brothers, Reggie and Ronnie, were such ostentatiously violent and vulgar gangsters that they practically constituted a self-parody. They were both newly in jail when the then-also-new comedy troupe Monty Python’s Flying Circus deemed to lampoon them with a sketch about “The Piranha Brothers,” Doug and Dinsdale, but the thing about that sketch, as it happened, was just how little it needed to stray from reality in order to hit the comic mark. Nevertheless, the Krays, who ruled criminal London from the late 1950s until their imprisonment in 1968, did real and wide-ranging human harm in their careers; this is a fact that Brian Helgeland, writer and director of a new crime movie about the twins, doesn’t seem to have any good ideas about what to do with. But that isn’t why “ Legend ” is such a muddle right off the bat.

Right off the bat it’s a muddle because of Helgeland’s slavish devotion to Martin Scorsese , a bad thing to display when you don’t have Scorsese’s chops. Early on in the picture, as Reggie Kray, the relatively charming, less psychotically violent of the fellows, is courting his future wife Frances, Helgeland opts to do a little “ GoodFellas .” As Reggie escorts Frances into a pub where he’s the kingpin, the moving camera follows from behind and glides alongside the couple as various friends of Reggie pay their respects. On a stage at the back, a singer is crooning “ The Look of Love ,” a song that had not actually been written when the scene takes place, but never mind that. You know where this is going. Helgeland wants to create his own version of the famed Copacabana tracking shot in Scorsese’s legendary 1990 gangster film, but he hasn’t quite worked out all the choreography—hence, the aforementioned singer ends up performing the world’s longest version of “The Look of Love,” at least until the point at which the sound editor or someone decided to have mercy and faded the guy out and substituted some generic-sounding movie music. This is merely one example, and a pretty outstanding one. There are plenty more throughout the film. (All of this is doubly stupefying when one recalls what a solid job Helgeland did in both writing and directing departments in his last picture, the 2013 Jackie Robinson story “42.”)

The movie’s main advantage and/or talking point is Tom Hardy, who plays both twins. Reggie is slick and confident, while Ronnie, a paranoid schizophrenic with strong sadistic tendencies, is like Lenny in “Of Mice And Men” if Lenny had been an East London mook, and evil to boot. Both performances are commanding, but not as commanding as they might have been. The weaknesses of Helgeland’s writing and directing are also to blame here. Particularly the latter: the unimaginative (and, I imagine, practically expedient) framing of the two Hardys during scenes in which they’re together makes the dual performance play like a tricksy stunt at times. Helgeland could have learned a great deal from the blocking of dual Jeremy Irons accomplished by David Cronenberg in “ Dead Ringers ,” which made the viewer feel as if there were really two different people in the frame. Too many times here there’s the feel of two different performances. Sometimes Hardy manages to ignite a spark. There’s a scene in which Chazz Palmentieri, playing a bluff emissary from the American Mafia, makes the twins an offer they’re better off not refusing, Ronnie’s belligerence notwithstanding. When Ronnie makes an unabashed announcement concerning his sexual preferences to this wise guy, it’s a real moment. As is one with Hardy’s Reggie, finally confessing at the end to his brother why he’s directing his own violent impulses so destructively into one target.

Moments such as these are too few and far between, while moments such as a wedding scene prefaced by the song “Chapel of Love” are far too many. The lucky bride is Reggie’s, and her name is Frances, and it’s with Frances’ story that the movie, for me, broke away from irritating mediocrity and into genuine badness.

Helgeland’s conception of Frances is doubly banal. First, he saddles her with the burden of semi-omniscient narration that’s rife with platitudinous nonsense (“ It was time for the Krays to enter the secret history of the 1960s ” and “ Not even Scotland Yard could ignore murder on the street ,” the latter of which has the uncomfortable echo of the bit in the Piranha Brothers sketch wherein the gangsters detonate a nuclear device over London). Second, he gives her onscreen character hardly any more depth than any of the complaining gangster and/or undercover cop wives you’ve seen in dozens of crime pictures over the years, Emily Browning ’s committed performance notwithstanding. Which makes Helgeland’s final trick with this character all the more objectionable when he finally pulls it. I knew a bit about the case of the Krays before coming in to the screening of the picture, but that knowledge wasn’t at the forefront of my consciousness as I watched the movie. And then I thought … wait a minute. And sure enough …

Spoiler alert: Reginald Kray’s real-life first wife, Frances Shea, committed suicide in 1967, two years after marrying Kray. And this is indeed depicted in the last fifth of the film, complete with Frances-as-narrator playing a little bit of “gotcha” with the audience. It strikes me as both aesthetically cheap and morally dubious to make an actual suicide into your own Joe Gillis for the sake of … well, that’s the other thing, which is I don’t know what “Legend” was made in the sake of. It’s a squalid story told with very little in the way of a dynamic personal perspective, and hence a waste of its very talented cast. 

Glenn Kenny

Glenn Kenny was the chief film critic of Premiere magazine for almost half of its existence. He has written for a host of other publications and resides in Brooklyn. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Legend (2015)

Rated R for strong violence, language throughout, some sexual and drug material.

131 minutes

Tom Hardy as Ronald Kray / Reginald Kray

Emily Browning as Frances Shea

Taron Egerton as Teddy Smith

David Thewlis as Leslie Payne

Colin Morgan as Frankie / Franck Shea

Christopher Eccleston as Leonard 'Nipper' Read

Paul Anderson as Albert Donoghue

Chazz Palminteri as Angelo Bruno

Aneurin Barnard as David Bailey

Millie Brady as Joan Collins

Charley Palmer Rothwell as Leslie Holt

Bob Cryer as Charles Kray Snr

• Brian Helgeland

Writer (book "The Profession of Violence")

• John Pearson

Cinematographer

• Peter McNulty
• Carter Burwell

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‘legend’: film review.

Tom Hardy co-stars with himself to play notorious London gangsters Ron and Reggie Kray in director Brian Helgeland's violent period drama.

By Leslie Felperin

Leslie Felperin

Contributing Film Critic

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There’s a British expression, “all mouth and no trousers,” which means someone who talks a great game but can’t actually deliver on his boasts. It’s an apt way to describe Legend , an account of the infamous identical twins Ron and Reggie Kray (both played by Tom Hardy ), Cockney gangsters who ran nightclubs and protection rackets, achieving tabloid notoriety in the 1960s .

Written and directed by Brian Helgeland (his script for L.A. Confidential won an Oscar, and he directed 42 and Payback , among others), this ungainly portrait strikes a lot of poses, as if inviting the viewer to admire its impressive cast list, fine period detailing, “cheeky” British humor and insouciant attitude toward violence. But none of it disguises the fact that the film is also tonally incoherent, vacuous and structurally a bleedin ‘ mess. The Brits’ fading but still persistent fascination with the Krays will nevertheless ensure reasonable admissions locally, and Hardy’s name will draw interest offshore, but it’s not likely to stay in theatrical custody for long.

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Aficionados of British crime movies and Spandau Ballet fans will recall that the brothers from Bethnal Green were the subjects of the 1990 film  The Krays , directed by Peter Medak  and starring pop stars Gary and Martin Kemp as Ron and Reggie, respectively.  The Krays may look dated now, with its crash zooms and synth-heavy score, but it zips through a broader swathe of its subjects’ lives than this new film in a shorter running time, and it at least delivers one gold-chip performance from Samuel Beckett ‘s muse,  Billie Whitelaw , as the Krays ‘ fearsome mother, Violet.

By contrast, Legend — a title so generic it’s practically meaningless and one that’s confusingly the same as the 1985 Ridley Scott film about a unicorn-loving Tom Cruise — features a fine actor, Hardy, giving one of his worst screen performances. Or at least half a bad performance, considering that it’s his hammy , bug-eyed, slurred-voice Ron Kray that’s the more egregious offender here, while his easygoing Reggie is reasonably charming (perhaps too charming, for those who value historical accuracy). The two turns operate in such wildly different registers, it’s as if two films have been haphazardly spliced together. One is a sentimental tragedy about a man (Reggie) who can’t separate himself from his mentally disturbed brother and, because of that, ends up ruining his marriage. The other a flamboyantly violent black farce about a gay psychopath (Ron) who impetuously destroys everything he touches, reminiscent, in a way, of Nicolas Winding Refn ‘s Bronson , another film starring Hardy as a real-life nutter , but which was a vastly more interesting work.

Struggling painfully to hold the two mismatched parts together, Helgeland has made Reggie’s wife, Frances ( Emily Browning ), the third point in this quasi-incestuous love triangle. In a move that may have been intended from the start but that plays like an act of postproduction triage brought in to create some kind of coherence, Frances’ voiceover narrates the film throughout, even past the point where it makes any logical narrative sense for her to do so. Frances, or at least her voiceover, is given to making writerly pronouncements (example: “It took a lot of love for me to hate him [Reggie] the way I do”) that suggest she did a correspondence course in screenwriting somewhere in between the secretarial college and the mental asylum that are mentioned in the script.

It wouldn’t be that annoying a device, if it weren’t for the fact that onscreen Frances shows none of voiceover Frances’ capacity for wryness, insight or even much of the “fragility” she’s ascribed by others. Indeed, she barely shows any emotion at all, thanks to the decorative but dull Browning’s typically inert, blank performance. The film also frequently deploys the VO to both show and tell plot points, like Frances’ growing addiction to pharmaceutical pills, as if it can’t trust the audience to work these things out for itself.

Although it eschews the birth and childhood parts of the story covered in Medak’s film, Legend trudges through roughly the same criminal career highlights — the key murders of George Cornell ( Shane Attwooll ) and Jack  “The Hat” McVitie ( Sam Spruell ) especially — but with more emphasis on Frances and Reggie’s love affair, the scandal around conservative peer Lord Boothby ‘s relationship with Ron ( Boothby is played with delicious fruitiness by John Sessions ) and their connections to the North American mafia, personified by Chazz Palminteri ‘s Angelo Bruno , a factotum for Meyer Lansky . The last plot point seems fashioned to add a bit more relevance for U.S. audiences, although it doesn’t really pay off dramatically. Nevertheless, contemporary American crime films are very much a touchstone, visible in the ostentatious references to Martin Scorsese (there’s even a long Steadicam shot that follows Reggie and Frances into a club, just like the one in Goodfellas ) and, perhaps unsurprisingly, L.A. Confidential in the way the film deploys music and fleetingly introduces real historical characters.

Less effective are the jocular bursts of violence, more Guy Ritchie -like than Scorsesian , such as the scene where Ron and Reg take out a pub full of rival gangsters with little more than household objects in hand and the element of surprise. Likewise, the supporting cast has been encouraged to camp things up to the max to add an extra dose of Lock, Stock -style background color, although, admittedly,  Taron Egerton ‘s hyenalike Mad Teddy Smith , Reggie’s main bed buddy and henchman, is one of the film’s brighter sparks.

For many, the big draw will be seeing Hardy playing against himself. (An early poster for the film even lists his name twice above the title.) But even the deployment of this trick is somewhat disappointing and a bit off, the use of effects technology clearly discernable in some shots. The joins are much less visible in, say, the TV show Orphan Black , possibly because a smaller screen is more forgiving. But the bigger problem is Hardy’s failure to generate much onscreen chemistry with himself.

The visuals that didn’t require technical jiggery-pokery are more persuasive and pleasing, from DP Dick Pope ‘s glittery, rainy-day lighting to Caroline Harris ‘ sharp costumes and, most of all,  Tom Conroy ‘s richly detailed production design. That said, there must be something wrong with a film when viewers find themselves spending more time admiring the cocktail glasses and polished-copper wall decorations than the performances.

Production companies: StudioCanal , Anton Capital Entertainment, Working Title Films Cast: Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, David Thewlis , Christopher Eccleston , Chazz Palminteri , Taron Egerton , Colin Morgan, Tara Fitzgerald, John Sessions, Charley Palmer Rothwell Director-screenwriter:  Brian Helgeland Producers: Tim Bevan , Eric Fellner , Chris Clark, Quentin Curtis, Brian Oliver Executive producers: Kate Solomon, Amelia Granger, Liza Chasin , Tom Hardy Co-producer: Jane Robertson Director of photography: Dick Pope Editor: Peter McNulty Production designer: Tom Conroy Costume designer: Caroline Harris Composer: Carter Burwell Casting: Lucinda Syson Sales: StudioCanal

R, 131 minutes

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Legend – video review

In an excerpt from this week’s Guardian film show Xan Brooks, Benjamin Lee and Catherine Shoard review Tom Hardy’s performance as both Reggie and Ronnie Kray in the east end gangster biopic Legend. Directed by Brian Helgeland, the film follows Reggie as he attempts to tame the increasingly violent behaviour of his twin. Legend, which also stars Emily Browning as Reggie’s wife, Frances, is released in the UK on 11 September

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• DVD & Streaming

Content Caution

In Theaters

• November 20, 2015
• Tom Hardy as Reggie and Ronald Kray; Emily Browning as Frances Shea; David Thewlis as Leslie Payne; Chazz Palmminteri as Angelo Bruno; Christopher Eccleston as Nipper Read; Colin Morgan as Frank Shea; Taron Egerton as Mad Teddy Smith; Sam Spruell as Jack McVitie; Shane Attwooll as George Cornell

Home Release Date

• March 1, 2016
• Brian Helgeland

Distributor

Movie review.

Talk about your double trouble.

Twins Reggie and Ronnie Kray are flat-out gangsters—brass knuckles and all. After spending most of their childhood beating each other up (the real life Reggie nearly killed Ronnie when they were kids), they decided to turn their collective rage on London, founding a fearsome mob called the Firm. And in the 1960s, as James Bond, The Beatles and “Swinging London” seemed to rule the world, the Krays ruled London with a bloody, smirking swagger.

Reggie’s the more refined of the two, what with his tailored tuxedos and penchant for owning high-end dinner clubs. He enjoys pressing the flesh almost as much as he likes bloodying it, and if he ran for office in the East End, he might just win. He’s as much a celebrity as a crook, schmoozing with A-list entertainers and shaking hands with England’s upper crust. The island’s aristocracy—both official and unofficial—seem to enjoy a brush with danger … as long as it’s not lethal.

So that aristocracy gives Ronnie a wider berth. If Reggie’s favorite sounds are clinking glasses and smooth jazz, Ronnie prefers the sound of snapping bones. This Kray is Kray-zee, and everyone knows it. It’s only through the Firm’s influence that Ronnie hasn’t been fitted with a straightjacket and locked up for good. And there are times when brother Reggie probably wishes he was.

But, hey, you don’t send away your own twin brother, do you?

It’s into this rarified-if-poisonous air that young Frances Shea steps. She’s unquestionably a flower—a vision of beauty in the gritty East End. Reggie takes a shine to her. He brings her flowers, shares candies with her, woos her with his schoolboy charm. And while Frances’ mother is horrified, and even her brother (who drives Reggie’s car) disapproves, Frances is won over. She loves this gregarious guy.

She only has one request: That Reggie go straight.

And while there’s a part of Reggie that might like to—for Frances’ sake, and maybe even for his own—that’s not so easy to do. Not with crime being the family business and all.

“Life is not always the way we’d like it to be,” he tells her.

Positive Elements

I suppose there’s something to be said for Ronnie’s and Reggie’s loyalty to each other. They may disagree. They may fight. But they do, curiously, love each other. When the Krays’ American mob partner suggests that something should really be done about Ronnie—the implication being that he should leave the business (ahem) permanently, Reggie refuses. “I can’t do that,” Reggie says. “We’re brothers.”

We’re reaching pretty low when we’re labeling one brother’s refusal to kill another as a “positive,” so let’s turn to another family, shall we?

The Sheas aren’t all that upstanding, either, but they have a certain morality that the Krays seem to lack. Frances pleads with Reggie to leave his life of crime, and for a while she gets her wish. Her mother tries to dissuade her from getting involved with the Krays at all—even going so far as to wear black to Frances and Reggie’s wedding. And when that marriage goes awry, Frances’ brother, Frank, does probably the single bravest thing in this movie: He allows Frances to live with him. And when Reggie comes by to win her back, Frank tells this man he knows is not a guy to be crossed that he can’t see her. (Frances eventually comes to the door herself, but that doesn’t diminish Frank’s bravery and selflessness.)

Spiritual Elements

Frances and Reggie get married in a church, with the minister expressing hope that the two will, through their actions, reflect God’s glory. In narration mode, Frances talks about how she doesn’t think God lets us choose our own lives. There’s a suggestion that a suicide is approved of by God since it allows the victim to experience “peace.” Ronnie suggests that he and Frances can see the future.

Sexual Content

”I’m a homosexual, Frances,” Ronnie tells her when they first meet. He believes it’s important to be completely forthright about who he is (which may explain his violent streak, too). He’s sometimes derogatorily called a “pouf.”

The brothers try to convince a prominent British lord to invest in Ronnie’s dream of building a utopian city in Nigeria, bringing Ronnie’s friend (and presumed lover) Crazy Teddy along. The lord makes a crude pass at Teddy, and thus gets himself invited to one of Ronnie’s “parties,” wherein we see a bevy of men hang out—intimately—with other men. Ronnie spends this party watching gay porn (audiences see two naked men wrestling on a bed) as he swats the backside of a bound and mostly-naked man with a paddle.

Women wear gowns that reveal cleavage. Scantily clad dancers writhe and twist. After getting rained on, Frances strips off wet clothes, revealing her equally wet underwear.

An altercation between a man and woman escalates into a rape. We see the woman in her underwear and the man begin forcing her into a sexual position.

Violent Content

Underground London (not to be confused with the London Underground) is a very violent place, and arguably the Krays are not the worst of the lot. Early on, the Firm’s main rival is the Richardson Gang, also known as the Torture Gang. We see its members at work in a kangaroo court, wherein a man hangs upside down as he’s being punched in the face by the “prosecution.” Electric cords are attached to his nipples, and when he refuses to talk, a gangster flips a switch.

Still, the Krays are plenty bad. In a rumble with the Torture Gang, the twins beat a half-dozen men half to death, Reggie swinging his brass knuckles and Ronnie wielding a pair of claw hammers. Ronnie, in particular, pounds the heads and arms and legs of his adversaries, the bloody blows sometimes accompanied with sickening cracks. When it comes to keeping his own crew in line, Reggie gives a man a cigarette, offers a light and, when the man bends down to receive it, hits him in the face. Reggie and Ronnie themselves get into a massive fight: They slap and hit and push and throw and strangle and gouge, breaking bottles and more. Ronnie, in the end, seems to have taken the worst of it, his face being left a bloody, pulpy mess.

One man is stabbed countless times at a party and nearly has his head sliced off. Another is shot in the forehead at a busy bar. Someone is hit by a car. A car crashes into a restaurant. In prison, Reggie is brutally beaten by guards. People are dangled from high balconies. A woman swallows a bevy of pills, killing herself.

Crude or Profane Language

“Don’t swear in my club!” Reggie admonishes a guest. Not that he follows his own rules. The Krays and others use the c-word and the s-word at least four times each, and the f-word more than 150. Also: “a–,” “b–locks” and “b–tard.” God’s and Jesus’ names are misused once or twice each.

Drug and Alcohol Content

As Reggie spends more and more time with “business,” Frances finds relief in drugs—sleeping pills especially, but she self-medicates with a variety of other pills, too. People also drink beer, whine, champagne, brandy and a great many mixed drinks. Much of the action takes place in bars and nightclubs. And given the timeframe, when smoking was considered ever so cool, it’s no surprise that we see characters sucking on cigars and cigarettes.

Other Negative Elements

The lord’s presence at Ronnie’s homoerotic party is eventually uncovered and publicly revealed, but the story is quickly squelched and discredited, given the lord’s standing in the government. (The incident leads to the Krays being given a measure of immunity.) We hear references to prostitution, a protection racket and other fixtures of organized crime. We see gambling, and it’s said that the Krays’ American partners are hoping to turn London into the “Las Vegas of Europe.”

Many movies predicated on real life take a few factual events and amp them up—making them more dramatic for action-craving viewers. Legend , for all its awful content, may be guilty of throttling back the realities of London’s underworld. The most horrific events we see the Krays do onscreen are a matter of public record, but there’s all manner of other heinousness that they’re rumored to have participated in that doesn’t make it into these 130 minutes. And while the tortures we see the Torture Gang carry out are horrific enough, there’s no mention of their other real-world habits of nailing people’s feet to the floor or slicing off toes with box cutters.

But while the movie could’ve been worse, Legend is quite bad enough just as it is. The violence and foul language is terrifically harsh. So while Tom Hardy’s turn as both the brothers Kray may earn him an Oscar nomination, his movie doesn’t warrant much love from us here at Plugged In .

It might be tempting to call this a cautionary tale. Legend does show that bad people doing bad things bring about bad ends. But while the extrapolated story doesn’t try to excuse the Krays for their loathesome ways, neither does it shy away from their celebrity. Certainly Universal’s marketers have chosen to emphasize that latter bit of sensationalism, playing up the glamour and big-money madness in the trailers. “Love, fight, live, rule like a legend,” we’re told.

America cinema has long raised its glass to the gangster. Maybe it’s time for a different vintage.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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Tom Hardy can act the hell out of any role, from subtle to blow-the-roof-off. In Legend, Hardy gets to do both, and all stops in between. It helps that he’s playing identical twins. And what twins. Ronald and Reginald Kray were the gangster lords of London during the 1960s. Reggie, ever the smooth operator, was cool enough to temporarily hide his cruel streak from Frances (Emily Browning), the girl he woos like Romeo courting his Juliet on her balcony.

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Writer-director Brian Helgeland uses Frances to narrate the film, a device that fails to pay off, since even a voice-over can’t make sense of Ronnie. The gay Kray is indisputably cray-cray, a monster given to sadistic violence and orgies involving Lord Boothby (John Sessions) and Teddy Smith (a terrific Taron Egerton). Of course, Ronnie loves his mum (Jane Wood). But his outbursts with an American Mafioso (Chazz Palminteri) drive Reggie bonkers. At one point, the brothers punch each other out.

It sounds silly, and often it is. Peter Medak’s 1990 film The Krays, starring Gary and Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet, had more narrative force. Helgeland’s script is hit-and-miss, not on the Oscar-winning level of his L.A. Confidential . Still, Hardy is a show all by himself, an actor flying without a net and having a ball. You will too.

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Legend Review - Tom Hardy Is Psychopathic And FUNNY In The British Attempt At Goodfellas

The actor reaches the big leagues with the Krays.

Film Editor (2014-2016). Loves The Usual Suspects. Hates Transformers 2. Everything else lies somewhere in the middle. Once met the Chuckle Brothers.

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Amazing star performance in violent '60s crime drama.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Loyalty trumps all; even when Reggie and Ronnie

Reggie and Ronnie live by a code, of sorts, that e

The Kray twins rule London's East End through

A few passionate kisses. Some sex talk; racy scene

Plenty of profanity, mainly "f--k," whic

Lots of smoking (cigarettes/cigars). Many scenes t

Parents need to know that Legend is a crime drama based on the real-life exploits of twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray (both played by Tom Hardy), who dominated the London underworld in the 1960s. One is brutal and not quite sane, the other is brutal and cunning, and the film is filled with scenes of…

Positive Messages

Loyalty trumps all; even when Reggie and Ronnie's unswerving dedication to each other is clearly a handicap, they refuse to sell each other out. Though it's not necessarily wise, it's admirable.

Positive Role Models

Reggie and Ronnie live by a code, of sorts, that emphasizes loyalty. They protect each other and their fellow gangsters, they don't prey on women or children, and they respect their elders. That said, anyone else is fair game, especially rival thugs, and they're usually ready and eager to rumble with their enemies.

Violence & Scariness

The Kray twins rule London's East End through intimidation and violence and are only too willing to dispense brutal beatings to show someone who's in charge. Many fist fights -- sometimes involving brass knuckles, hammers, and other battering implements -- that leave people on the floor, bloody and maimed or worse. A few conflicts also involve guns and knives, which result in even more bloodshed (sometimes quite gory, especially one graphic stabbing) and death. A character is hung upside down and tortured (including via electrodes). In one scene, a man beats up his wife, leaving her bruised; further assault (rape) is implied. Suicide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A few passionate kisses. Some sex talk; racy scenes shown on TV in background.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Plenty of profanity, mainly "f--k," which is used liberally in almost every scene. Other words include "c--t," "bastard," "bitch," "s--t," and plenty of British slang. Some homophobic terms.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Lots of smoking (cigarettes/cigars). Many scenes take place at pubs, nightclubs, and parties and feature plenty of drinking, sometimes to excess. A character who takes prescription pills overdoses.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Legend is a crime drama based on the real-life exploits of twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray (both played by Tom Hardy ), who dominated the London underworld in the 1960s. One is brutal and not quite sane, the other is brutal and cunning, and the film is filled with scenes of intense, difficult-to-watch violence that leave people bloody, battered, unconscious, or dead. There's a scene of torture involving electrodes, graphic shootings and stabbings, and a man physically abuses a woman (sexual assault is implied but not shown). Aside from the violence, there's plenty of drinking, smoking, and swearing (including "s--t," "f--k," and more), as well as some drug use (one character is dependent on pills and commits suicide by overdosing). Also expect some sexual references and a few passionate kisses. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (5)
• Kids say (12)

Based on 5 parent reviews

Legend is very well made mostly due to Tom Hardy's acting

What's the story.

In the 1960s, London's East End was controlled by twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray (both played by Tom Hardy ), vicious gangsters who loved a good fight and ruled through intimidation and brutal violence. LEGEND charts their rise to power as they eliminate their rivals and become involved in the swinging nightclub scene, which brings them into contact with the wealthy and powerful -- and eventually the American mafia. Reggie's girlfriend/wife, Frances ( Emily Browning ), narrates the tale, and Christopher Eccleston plays Nipper Read, the dogged Scotland Yard detective who's determined to bring the Krays to justice.

Is It Any Good?

In Legend , Hardy brings to life two different-but-similar characters in such an eerily authentic way that it's easy to forget the actor and his roles aren't one and the same. He's that fantastic in the film. Credit is due to the rest of the ensemble, too, who don't give in to the camp that can sometimes overtake period pieces, especially period pieces about the mafia. It helps that the movie is, at heart, a tale of relationships: between a man and a woman who make a connection that might ultimately destroy each other but also sustain each other, and between brothers, one of whom is tasked to care for the other in a way that makes it impossible for the caretaker not to be consumed.

But Legend does let its leading man down a little; Hardy's top-form acting isn't fully supported by the uneven script, which could have been much more complex and gone much deeper into the Krays' dysfunctional, mysterious relationship. It's a quibble, but not a distraction. In the end, Hardy overwhelms with his talent.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about loyalty. How important are Ronnie and Reggie to each other? What happens when one of them is asked to take sides against the other? When can loyalty become a liability?

Do you think all of the movie's violence is necessary to tell the story? How does the impact of what you see here compare to what you might experience in an action or horror movie? Does exposure to violent media desensitize kids to violence?

How does Legend 's take on the 1960s U.K. crime mob compare to movies that show American organized crime during the same period? Can you see similarities and differences in the scenes when the Krays meet U.S. gangsters?

Movie Details

• In theaters : November 20, 2015
• On DVD or streaming : March 1, 2016
• Cast : Tom Hardy , Emily Browning , Christopher Eccleston
• Director : Brian Helgeland
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Universal Studios
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : History
• Run time : 131 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : strong violence, language throughout, some sexual and drug material
• Last updated : May 14, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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Legend Reviews

Don't let the rotten rating fool you, Legend is a cult classic with more than enough to entertain above and beyond Tim Curry's extreme makeover. This is an arthouse indulgence from Ridley Scott that may feature Tom Cruise, but still manages to impress.

Full Review | Apr 20, 2024

Though Legend may never achieve full-on classic motion picture status, the more fleshed-out director's cut proves that Ridley Scott's lovingly-crafted fairytale always deserved better than it got from both film critics and paying audiences alike.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 12, 2023

Legend remains a stunning faerie floss fantasy. Ninety-five minutes of lovingly crafted, 'super real' escapism.

Full Review | Jul 22, 2022

This is a fantasy painting come to life as a movie. If you know anything about fantasy paintings, you'll also know that most fantasy paintings don't have a story or plot to them.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 15, 2021

The film has glaring faults that cannot be overlooked so while Arrow does a superb job packaging this release, the movie itself could use a makeover.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 12, 2021

The deficits remain as voluminous and ghastly as ever.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 9, 2021

Legend is a disaster in a lot of ways, but it's an attractive one that's a lot more fun than many other serious movies.

Full Review | Mar 25, 2020

It's all flash and no flesh. But in the hands of a visual director like Scott, sometimes that's enough.

Full Review | Mar 27, 2019

Legend is not without whimsical touches, but it surely could have used more humor and invention.

You are caught up in a morality play... the deepest significance of which the makers of this PG movie are apparently betting the adolescents of America will instinctively comprehend.

Best known as the movie that was filming at Pinewood when the James Bond stage burned down, this is probably one of the few films on director Ridley Scott's CV that he would prefer to forget.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 27, 2019

I don't want to remember any more about Legend than to make sure I include it in my ''worst films of 1986'' list and never rent it when it comes out as a video cassette.

Full Review | Original Score: 0.5/4 | Mar 27, 2019

If a movie can have so much money and talent poured into it, and still come out this stale and tedious, something larger may be happening than the failure of one misbegotten project.

Legend may turn out to be legendary, but not in the way the filmmakers intended.

The bad thing about Legend is that all the virtuosity of Scott's vision only gets halfway there. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Mar 26, 2019

Sumptuous, grandly-scaled, and often ludicrous.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 26, 2019

The sets, makeup and photography in Ridley Scott's contribution to the fantasy cycle are awesome, but the dialogue and acting are more fitted to the pantomime stage.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 26, 2019

Its production design, special effects, and overall look can't be faulted. But its hackneyed story about good versus evil is so insipid and dull that no matter how much one might applaud the visual achievement, the movie is still a gigantic bore.

Dark and often scary '80s fantasy hasn't aged well.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Aug 26, 2015

A remarkable and bleak fantasy thriller for folks that like their fantasy based on thick characterization and less humongous battles.

Full Review | Nov 1, 2014

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Saravanan, a foreign-educated researcher returns to his native place in India. His family runs colleges and hospitals. He crosses swords with a filthy-rich medical mafia with only commercial... Read all Saravanan, a foreign-educated researcher returns to his native place in India. His family runs colleges and hospitals. He crosses swords with a filthy-rich medical mafia with only commercial intentions. Saravanan, a foreign-educated researcher returns to his native place in India. His family runs colleges and hospitals. He crosses swords with a filthy-rich medical mafia with only commercial intentions.

• Joseph D. Sami
• Pattukottai Prabhakar
• 48 User reviews
• 2 Critic reviews

• Vasanthan Perumal's Wife

• All cast & crew
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Did you know

• Alternate versions The UK release was cut, the distributor chose to make cuts to scenes of strong violence and suicide in order to obtain a 12A classification. An uncut 15 classification was available.
• Soundtracks Mosalo Mosalo (Hindi) Music by Harris Jayaraj Lyrics by Saaveri Verma Vocals by Santosh Hariharan

User reviews 48

• Jul 29, 2022
• How long is The Legend? Powered by Alexa
• July 28, 2022 (India)
• Watch The Legend on Disney+ Hotstar
• The Legend New Saravana Stores
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 41 minutes

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