The Krays

Peter Medak directed this film from the screenplay of Philip Ridley. Both have done great films like Romeo Is Bleeding (Medak) and Passion of Darkly Noon (Ridley) and The Krays is not an exception. It tells the story of real life Kray twins gangsters (Gary and Martin Kemp from Spandau Ballet) that kept England in horror in the middle of 1900's. They were born to normal family where their mother (Billie Whitelaw), a very strong female character, brought them up among a world that was filled with "useless men" and females that fought in difficult circumstances during war and poverty. When the twin brothers grew, they began to get power and finally they become very powerful and strong gangsters, who finally met their destiny.

This film is a depiction of power, greed and money and how it corrupts. "When people are afraid of you, you can do anything" says Ronnie Kray to his brother Reggie. The greediness and other forms of corruption - like revenge - become so strong that they finally destroy everything the brothers have reached. The theme is pretty much the same as in DePalma's Scarface and many other similar depictions of power and money. The last scene in The Krays is very powerful and important as it crystallizes the whole message of the film.

The film also tells about females and love. Love is also destroyed because other things become more important for Reggie, who has found a girlfriend. This film has also very powerful female characters, mainly the mother of brothers. She is very feminine and all the female characters seem to hate males in this movie, but that is perhaps all some males deserve in the film since all they seem to be able to do is getting drunk and fight and not help the females in any way.

Technically The Krays is a proof of Medak's talent as the photography is great and the film is very powerful in its elements. The part when mother Kray realizes what her boys do "for living" is very powerful and told with the very effective tools of cinema. Music is often effective and violence is off putting, as the attitudes and values of the movie's characters are, too. This film is very powerful as the aforementioned last scene is very sad and though provoking, and really underlines the final message of the film. I think the characters are somewhat too shallow occasionally and their acts are not fully explained all the time. That is also the case in another film written by Philip Ridley, The Passion of Darkly Noon. Mostly I'm irritated how Reggie treats his wife since there seems to be believable emotional relationship between the two. Also, the girl who plays Reggie's wife over-acts little in some scenes and it is irritating to watch as it is not as realistic and natural as possible. If the characters were little more natural and believable, this would be even greater piece of cinema.

The Krays is important piece of 90's cinema and very powerful depiction of different kinds of corruption that finally lead to destruction and death of dreams. I give this 8/10 and the film is recommended for those who appreciate films like Romeo is Bleeding and Scarface, for instance.

This was an impressive movie: stylish, well played and atmospheric.

The greatest revelation was the talent of the Kemp Brothers (ex-Spandau Ballet) who were absolutely marvelous as the notorious Kray Twins. They portrayed the mixture of glamour, ruthlessness and family loyalty of these two brothers with much conviction.

The storyline seemed a little vague at times, and glossed over one or two episodes, but this was probably due to the compression of facts and didn't mar the feel of the movie as a whole. Quite frankly, it probably would have taken a mini-series to document all the things the real Twins were up to.

Billie Whitelaw was a standout as Violet Kray. Steven Berkoff over-acted as usual. Tom Bell was wonderful as always.

Not to be taken as absolute fact but is interestingly done and certainly gives an idea of the story behind these two well known villains.

I happened to be present at the end of one of the Krays Old Bailey trials.this was one where the case collapsed due to witness intimidation.Finally,thankfully,the law caught up with them.Pity this film didn't make clear why instead of glamourising the Krays and violence.No mention was made of the main way they made their money,the protection racket.Far too much time was spent on the twins with their mum.Also we saw snippets of their early life but it didn't add up to very much.Some much of what was shown regarding the 2 crucial murders was confused and confusing.The reasons for the murders were far more complex than shown in this film.All in all a pretty poor effort.

I was fortunate enough to have seen "The Krays" on cable a number of years ago and I never forgot it..

I consider myself a stone cold film buff especially for the action drama genre. To later find out that the film was based on real people just drove the point home even further how awesome this film was.

I only wish that the DVD version would be released in the US as well. I rank this film right up there with "Once upon a time in America" and "Miller's Crossing" as films I love and would watch again and again.

A powerful film about the lives and crimes of the notorious Kray Twins. The Kemp brothers are superb as Reggie and Ronnie (and still the best film concerning their turbulent lives). The movie is almost a perfect production and dealing with a violent subject matter, that could easily have been screwed-up. The mood and atmosphere is charged and even the 'Maltese Brothers' get a mention (nice one). Two of my favourite actors Steven Berkhoff and Tom Bell, explode onto the screen!