Legend is a crime thriller and biography that portrays the style and terror that gangsters are notorious for being. A twist to the story is that it’s about English gangsters; New York, New Jersey, Chicago and Las Vegas have nothing to do with it. Specifically the movie is focusing on the infamous Kray brothers and their lives leading up to their life imprisonment.

That’s not a spoiler by the way, almost everyone I know that likes to find out about gangsters has heard of the Kray brothers. If you haven’t, let me give you a little back story on them so you can understand why they would think to make a film about them. Ronnie and Reggie Kray were identical twin brothers and were some of the worst and most famous criminal in the East End of London during the 1950’s and 1960’s. They started out life very normal though. Born into a poor family the boys grew up with a love of boxing. They were good enough to never be beaten in their amateur fights and only stopped being boxers after they refused to go into the military and were subsequently jailed and dishonorably discharged.

By that time the Kray brothers already had a taste of criminal life and had a gang called The Firm. Even while boxing the gang was infamous and known for their violent tendencies. Even being in military prison didn’t stop the Kray’s from being out of control. It’s said while in there they threw tantrums, emptied latrine and hot food over guards, intimidated other prisoners, stole a pair of handcuffs and locked a guard to their cell bars and lit their bedding on fire.

After they got out they continued this behavior into a full life of crime and added protection rackets, hijacking, armed robbery and arson. Then they stepped their game up. The brothers bought a club and then acquired several more (usually through illegal or threatening means) and soon became very popular in the London social scene. When I say popular I mean they were friends with people like Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra and many others including English Lords and MPs. Being on the celebrity circuit gave them even more notoriety and also made it hard for the police to catch them.

The Kray’s were already being held for suspicion on several murders (some even within their own gang), but because of their violent behavior no witnesses would come forward. One tabloid alleged that Ronnie Kray had had an affair with a male politician. This caused a huge scandal, but it was quickly retracted and apologized for when the Kray brothers threatened them and the politician threatened to sue. Interestingly, it was later confirmed to be true and several books (two written by the Kray brothers themselves in the far future) confirmed that Ronnie was bisexual and had many affairs with men.

These connections kept the Kray brothers out of jail for a long time, but a Scotland Yard policeman by the name of Leonard ‘Nipper’ Read was determined to bring them down. He collected evidence against them for years, but never enough to formally charge the brothers. He finally got a break when they detained one of their associates who talked. It was decided that this with all the other evidence would hopefully be enough to convict them. Once the Krays were behind bars and people free of their intimidation, many witnesses came forward and the charges against them and fifteen other members of The Firm were enough to send them to prison for life. Even still their popularity garnered them support trying to free them, but it was never successful. Both men married a couple times each, some even while they were imprisoned. Reggie for a short time was married to Frances Shea, whose brother was the Kray’s friend and driver. This relationship is put into focus in the movie as Frances knew the men for a long time before she married one of them.

Now that we know about the Kray twins what can we expect from the movie? It seems the movie is narrowing its focus to the brothers at their highest point in the 1960’s and how it eventually came crumbling down due to Reggie’s more violent behavior and their worsening crimes. Frances plays a much larger part in the movie and she narrates it as well. It’s based on a book by John Pearson (The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins) and written and directed by Brian Helgeland.

The cast of this movie is definitely noteworthy. Tom Hardy is spectacular and shows his chops playing both Ronnie and Reggie in the film. Hardy has exploded in recent years with his movies enjoying great success; Mad Max: Fury Road, The Drop and The Dark Knight Rises. The rest of the cast is also very accomplished with Emily Browning as Frances Shea (Lemony Snickets, Sucker Punch, Pompeii); Christopher Eccleston as Nipper Read (Doctor Who, Elizabeth, The Others and Thor); Colin Morgan as Frank Shea (Merlin, Humans, Testament of Youth) and Taron Egerton as Mad Teddy Smith (Testament of Youth, Kingsman: The Secret Service).

It was filmed almost exclusively around London giving it a much more authentic vibe. There were some scenes shot in Buckinghamshire too. Unlike most American films, this movie only had a budget of thirty million. While reviews have been mixed about it, the citizens of the UK have by themselves almost made back that thirty million themselves (27.6). This may not seem like a lot, but it actually broke records and is a big deal. I for one lean more on what people are watching then on reviews alone. So while some reviews have been lukewarm, I still think giving this movie a shot is a good idea.

Legend has already been released here as well on November 20th, but only to New York City and Los Angeles. Why, I couldn’t find out but it has made about a half million dollars since that time. I would think that is pretty good considering it is only in two cities in the USA. Now don’t worry people who want to see the film, Universal is going to expand the movie to nationwide on December 11th. I for one will definitely be going to see it. Tom Hardy has proven to be a success and it takes a lot of messing up to make an American audience not like a gangster movie. If you do happen to live in either the UK or LA/NYC and have seen the movie, please tell us in the comments below what you thought about it!

I’ll leave everyone with the trailer to this movie and I hope you give us a follow @thenerdygirlexp to never miss out on our articles. I am also on twitter @quietlikeastorm and would love to hear from you guys! I regularly live tweet shows, movies and games I watch and would like if you joined me too.