La légende des Kray

This film is terrible. Where to start? Poor acting, no idea where they got the guy who played Reggie from but I've seen more character in a wooden spoon. No proper research was clearly done into the Krays which makes the film hard to watch and cringe worthy in parts. The fact that the "twins" looked and acted a million miles apart pretty much sums it up. It's offensive that this film was even produced under the name of the Krays and I agree with other users that the logic behind the film was simply to milk the subject for all it's worth. Best advice would be to save your time and money and either watch Legend or read one of John Pearson's novels on the Krays, both of which at least do the subject some justice.

This is another attempt at the story of the Kray twins who terrorised London's East End starting in the early 1960s. UK resident will know of the Kray twins as they had quite a reputation. Their portrayal in this movie is laughable. They come across as misunderstood, well meaning brats which they certainly weren't. As far as pure entertainment goes the movie is a first class clanger. The story of the Krays has been done before and was a considerably better effort than this latest version. Obviously made on a tight budget and full of historical inaccuracies, it is dull and at most times, embarrassing and painful to watch. I humbly suggest that you do yourself a huge favour, steer clear of this dud and wait for the release of "Legend" with Tom Hardy which I imagine will be infinitely better.

Simon Cotton and Kevin Leslie star as the twin brothers who were leading gangsters in 1960s London. Filmed simultaneously with its sequel, THE FALL OF THE KRAYS, it purports to offer their lives from their initial move to take over a bar, through their increasing political influence through the election of Harold Wilson.

Although Ronnie's homosexuality is not mentioned -- despite its featuring in other versions -- there is the occasionally almost orgasmic release as Kevin Leslie pulls out a cavalry saber to rip apart some bloke who has offended him. Is this some lingering reticence, or will it be saved for the sequel? There's certainly no shyness about showing young women's breasts in the sequence covering the Profumo Affair. My conclusion is that this was intended as pornography, soft enough to manage an R rating in the US and an 18 in the UK.

Unlike many reviewers of this film I haven't got a great knowledge of the Krays. I thought the film was flawed and mis-titled. The fact that neither actor looks like the Krays didn't really matter ( neither did the Kemp brothers) it was more the story of Ronnie Kray, portrayed as a victim of severe mental illness, absurd delusions of grandeur , paranoia, sadistic tendencies etc. It showed the brothers as driven by uncontrolled anger, ambition, a force of evil but without any real plan .They gained predominance in the criminal underworld by their extra willingness to go that extra mile in violence and savagery, especially Ronnie whose total abandonment to dark forces made it inconceivable that that profits from their extortion rackets could ever be diverted into sustainable 'non-criminal' businesses, and grain them any veneer of respectability. The lack of plot in the film reflected well the lack of ability the Krays had to plan ahead or make any shrewd , intelligent decisions. Their forté was merciless violence and sadism which saved them from the need for any foresight. In its portrayal of Ronnie , the film captured the eye of the storm which was Ronnie Kray, a vacuum of humanity sucking in, and throwing out everything in its path. Simon Cotton's portrayal of a psychopath captured an unimaginable anger and hatred mixed with a sense of observation and removal from his own actions and was an inspired performance.

The film was a depiction of a post war deprivation, poverty , social injustice and its consequences. The Krays were vicious predators but also victims themselves.

Tom Hardy plays Reggie and Ronnie Kray ? Hey let's make a tie in movie and release it straight to DVD . Don't worry about developing it because the other film will market this one so it's just a case of releasing our film first

That's the impression I got and THE RISE OF THE KRAYS is painfully under-developed . As the other commentators have pointed out the titular characters are played by actors who bare little resemblance to the twins . Worse than that they're not good actors either . Simon Cotton is fairly dreadful as Ronnie and resembles a not very good actor playing an East End gangster . I suppose I should be charitable and say the cast and the rest of the production team were probably under heavy pressure with deadlines but even so the poor production values are a constant distraction

I can understand what director Zackary Adler tries to do with some scenes and that is to express in a cinematic style the mental illness Ronnie Kray suffers from , but considering the subject matter is an expressionistic film featuring violent gangsters really the place for a study of schizophrenia ? Probably not . Again to be charitable at least the production team don't come out with the old clichés of "Any old ladies getting mugged and he twins wanted to know about it . They stuck to their own , we were safe in those days etc etc" . The Krays are portrayed as unpleasant characters but this is also an unpleasant badly film too