--- title: "Legend" year: 2015 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/legend-2015" fi1m_id: "legend-2015" imdb_id: "tt3569230" tmdb_id: 276907 wikidata_id: "Q17182571" fi1m_score: 57 critics_score: 59 critics_reviews: 21 published: "2026-09-24T20:12:26.566661+00:00" updated: "2026-09-24T20:12:27.795181+00:00" region: "BE" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Legend (2015) Directed by Brian Helgeland · 2h 12m · Crime, Thriller ## Identity Legend - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/legend-2015 - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** legend-2015 - **IMDb ID:** tt3569230 - **TMDB ID:** 276907 - **Wikidata ID:** Q17182571 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3569230/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/276907, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17182571 **Fi1m score: 57** · Critics 59 from 21 reviews *In a sentence:* Tom Hardy hits Tom Hardy in a nightclub and it is the best conversation in the film > Tom Hardy plays both Kray twins and is worth watching as each of them. Brian Helgeland’s film around him is handsome and well dressed and oddly fond of its subjects, and it never decides what it thinks of them. ## Synopsis London’s East End in the 1960s. Reggie Kray (Tom Hardy) runs clubs and protection from a terraced street with a boxer’s poise and a businessman’s smile, while his twin Ronnie (also Hardy) sits in a psychiatric hospital until Dr Humphries (Nicholas Farrell) is persuaded to declare him sane. Reggie courts Frances Shea (Emily Browning), the sister of his driver Frank (Colin Morgan), over the objections of her mother Elsie (Tara Fitzgerald), and Frances narrates what follows. Detective Leonard ‘Nipper’ Read (Christopher Eccleston) watches the twins from a car across the road. The accountant Leslie Payne (David Thewlis) wants the firm’s money in West End clubs; Ronnie, with Mad Teddy Smith (Taron Egerton) at his shoulder, would rather have a fight. American money arrives in the shape of Angelo Bruno (Chazz Palminteri). ## Review Brian Helgeland tells the story of the Kray twins, who ran the East End’s clubs and rackets in the 1960s, through the woman who married one of them. Tom Hardy plays both brothers, which is the reason to see it. Around him Helgeland builds a handsome film that enjoys the Krays’ suits, clubs and way of ending an argument, and never decides what it thinks of the men in the suits. Reggie first. Hardy gives him a boxer’s ease, a smile that arrives a beat before the threat, and a voice pitched to make barmen lean in. He is the one the film loves, and the one Frances Shea (Emily Browning) falls for over tea. Ronnie is another matter. Hardy plays him behind heavy glasses, jaw pushed forward, words from the back of the throat, and announces his taste for boys to a table of hard men as flatly as a man reading a train time. We laughed at Ronnie more than we meant to, at the giggle and the sudden sulks, and then felt uneasy, because the film cuts from the laugh to a man being beaten on a pub floor and does not notice the join. The trick of putting both Krays in one frame works well enough that we stopped looking for it. When the brothers fight, in a club, bottles going everywhere, Peter McNulty cuts it so that we never catch a double, and the scene plays as a marriage breaking rather than a stunt. It is the best scene in the film and it lasts three minutes. Dick Pope lights the East End in a warm amber that makes a terraced street look like somewhere you might want a drink, and the clubs in low gold and red so every face is half in shadow. Tom Conroy’s rooms are velvet banquettes and bad wallpaper. Caroline Harris puts Reggie in narrow suits and Frances in the short dresses and pale coats of a girl who reads the magazines. Carter Burwell’s score keeps a low, sour brass line under it and steps aside when Duffy, as the singer Timi Yuro, takes the stage. The trouble is the voice holding it together. Frances narrates, and Helgeland has written her a commentary that tells us what we have just watched. Browning is good in the flesh, small and watchful and slowly frightened, but the voiceover turns her into a tour guide to her own marriage, and a woman on screen for two hours ends up wanting nothing but for Reggie to come home. The men around the twins fare unevenly. David Thewlis gives Leslie Payne, the accountant who wants the firm’s money somewhere the police cannot see it, the patience of a man explaining tax to a dog; he is the best thing here that is not Hardy. Christopher Eccleston’s Nipper Read spends his scenes in a parked car with a flask. Taron Egerton giggles at Ronnie’s elbow as Mad Teddy Smith, Paul Bettany turns up as Charlie Richardson, and Chazz Palminteri brings American money as Angelo Bruno. What does the film think of the Krays? [*The Krays*](https://film.one/film/the-krays) (1990) put the Kemp brothers in the roles and kept a cold distance; this one wants us to have fun with Ronnie and fancy Reggie, and cannot find anything else to want. The second half takes a darker turn we will not describe, where a point of view was needed and only Frances’s narration turned up. By the last half hour we were tired of watching men be hit in bars, and then irritated, because Hardy had handed Helgeland the material for a harder film about two brothers and Helgeland made one about their tailoring. See it for Hardy and Thewlis, with someone who will not mind being asked afterwards what any of it was for. It runs 132 minutes, carries an 18 for good reason, and is better at home, where you can pause to work out which brother just hit whom. *Fi1m score 57, published 24 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews lean mixed rather than hostile, and almost all of them agree on one thing: Tom Hardy’s performance as both Kray twins is the reason to watch. Critics describe his Reggie and Ronnie as sharply differentiated, intimidating and often funny, and several say he carries a film that would otherwise sag. The effects that let him play both brothers in one frame draw approval too, as does the period look. Where they part is on everything around him. The most common complaints are a thin script, an underwritten Frances whose narration grates, a tone that swings between comedy and violence without settling, and a romanticised view of the Krays that some find troubling. The spread is wide. British critics are mostly warm, with several four-star notices, while the American trades and the later American reviews are far cooler. The Hollywood Reporter goes furthest, finding the set dressing more engaging than the performances, and Slant is the rare voice unconvinced by Hardy himself. ## Straight answers **Is Legend worth watching?** *Legend* is worth watching for Tom Hardy, who plays both Kray twins and is good as each of them, but we scored it 57 because Brian Helgeland's film never decides what it thinks of the men. It looks handsome and enjoys the suits and clubs, and Frances's narration tells us what we have just seen. See it for Hardy and David Thewlis, and expect to wonder afterwards what it was for. **How long is Legend, and what is it rated?** *Legend* runs 2h 12m. It is a crime and thriller film. **Where can I watch Legend in Belgium?** *Legend* is available to rent from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV from €3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is Legend, and is it suitable for children?** *Legend* carries an 18 certificate for good reason and is not suitable for children. Men are beaten on pub floors and in bars for much of its 132 minutes, the brothers' own fight in a club is the best scene, and the film cuts from laughs to violence without noticing. Teenagers under 18 should give it a miss, and the squeamish will tire of the punching before the end. **How does Legend compare to The Long Good Friday?** [*The Long Good Friday*](https://film.one/film/the-long-good-friday) is the better film, and the one we recommend beside *Legend*. Both are about London gangsters who think they are businessmen, but John Mackenzie's film has a view of its man and something to say about ambition and money, while Helgeland's wants us to fancy Reggie and laugh at Ronnie and finds nothing else. Watch *Legend* for Hardy's double act; watch the earlier film for Bob Hoskins and a story with a point. **What should I watch after Legend?** After *Legend*, try [*The Long Good Friday*](https://film.one/film/the-long-good-friday) (1980, Fi1m 88): Bob Hoskins as a London gangster who thinks he is a businessman; the film disagrees. Then [*Performance*](https://film.one/film/performance) (1970, Fi1m 81): An East End enforcer hides out with a rock star and comes apart; strange and sharp; and [*Sexy Beast*](https://film.one/film/sexy-beast) (2000, Fi1m 85): Ray Winstone wants to retire; Ben Kingsley arrives to say no, at volume. ### Reviews we read (21) - **Time Out**, Dave Calhoun (4/5): The review presents the film as a slick, melancholy crime drama. It praises Tom Hardy’s performance as the Kray twins. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/legend-1) - **Total Film**, Jamie Graham (4/5): The review finds the film flawed but swaggeringly cinematic, and says Tom Hardy excels, especially as Reggie. It praises Hardy’s charismatic, dazzling performance while noting that Frances is frustratingly underwritten. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/legend-review/) - **Empire**, Dan Jolin (75/100, inferred): Jolin gives the film a clearly positive verdict, while noting that Frances’s voiceover can grate. He particularly praises Tom Hardy’s magnetic, sharply differentiated performances as both Kray twins. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/legend-4-review/) - **Evening Standard**, Charlotte O'Sullivan (70/100, inferred): O'Sullivan finds the film an ambitious but uneven hotchpotch, with a muddled use of Frances as narrator. She praises Tom Hardy as outstanding and gripping in both roles. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/legend-film-review-tom-hardy-is-terrific-at-double-trouble-a2945201.html) - **The Guardian**, Mark Kermode (70/100, inferred): Kermode finds the film cartoonish but entertaining, with its affection for the Krays’ image left intriguingly ambiguous. He singles out Tom Hardy’s committed dual performance as the film’s central strength. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/13/legend-review-tom-hardy-conquers-the-krays-kermode) - **The Independent**, Geoffrey Macnab (70/100, inferred): Macnab finds the film lavish and entertaining, though its romanticized treatment of the Krays is troubling. He particularly praises Tom Hardy’s flamboyant, compelling dual performance. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/legend-movie-review-tom-hardy-is-brilliant-in-this-weird-love-story-about-the-kray-twins-10493113.html) - **Film Comment**, Graham Fuller (65/100, inferred): The visible standfirst presents the film as emphasizing substance over style. No fuller critical verdict or specific praise is available in the accessible text. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/review-legend-tom-hardy/) - **Variety**, Guy Lodge (65/100, inferred): Lodge finds the biopic compelling but structurally compromised and psychologically thin. He singles out Tom Hardy’s remarkable dual performance as the film’s most dazzling achievement. [Read](https://variety.com/2015/film/festivals/legend-review-tom-hardy-1201554085/) - **Little White Lies**, Clarisse Loughrey (64/100, inferred): The page presents a video review of Brian Helgeland’s gangster biopic but gives no readable verdict. Loughrey raises whether tea can fix everything, though the page text does not reveal her answer or a specific praise or complaint. [Read](https://lwlies.com/that-darn-movie-show/legend-video-review) - **Screen Daily**, Fionnuala Halligan (64/100, inferred): The accessible page does not reveal the critic’s verdict. It also does not show what the critic praises or complains about. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/legend-review/5092258.article) - **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The page returned an access error, so the critic’s verdict cannot be determined. No praise or complaint from the review is available to report. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/movies/review-legend-starring-tom-hardy-as-the-gangster-twins-ronnie-and-reggie-kray.html) - **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (40/100, inferred): Ebiri finds the film unable to match the energy of Tom Hardy’s dual performance. He praises Hardy’s distinct characterizations and singles out the brothers’ tense confrontation at their mother’s house, while faulting the supporting world for feeling underdeveloped. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2015/11/movie-review-legend.html) - **Slant Magazine**, Kenji Fujishima (1.5/4): Fujishima finds the film shallow and unsympathetic, with Hardy unable to bring depth to his twin roles. He particularly faults the script’s thin characterization of Frances and its reliance on recycled gangster-film style. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/legend-2015/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Leslie Felperin (10/100, inferred): Felperin pans the film as tonally incoherent, vacuous, and structurally messy. She praises its period visuals and production design, but says the performances are less engaging than the set dressing. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/legend-film-review-817441/) - **Den of Geek**, Ryan Lambie (4/5): The critic finds Legend particularly absorbing, with Tom Hardy’s dual performance giving the gangster story its tension and magnetism. He praises Hardy’s intimidating, often funny portrayal of the twins, while noting that some digital backgrounds look processed and stagey. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/legend-review/) - **HeyUGuys**, Stefan Pape (3/5): Pape finds the film unfocused and tonally inconsistent, despite its intriguing subject. He praises Tom Hardy’s distinctive dual performance and the seamless effects that let him play both twins together. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/legend-review/) - **Digital Spy**, Stella Papamichael (55/100, inferred): The review finds the film morbidly fascinating but uneven, criticizing its romanticized view of the Krays. It praises the tense dialogue and Hardy’s performance as both brothers. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a666818/legend-review-tom-hardy-is-savage-and-stylish-as-the-kray-twins/) - **Eye for Film**, Owen Van Spall (55/100, inferred): The critic finds the film entertaining and watchable, but says it never develops the deeper meaning its title promises. Hardy’s showy dual performance is a standout, though its oversized portrayal of Ronnie ultimately unbalances the film. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/legend-2015-film-review-by-owen-van-spall) - **Collider**, Adam Chitwood (C-): Chitwood finds the film a derivative, overlong slog that fails to make its promising subject compelling. He praises Hardy’s characterization of the twin brothers, especially Ronnie, but says the script gives him too little to work with. [Read](https://collider.com/legend-review-tom-hardy-tiff-2015/) - **Consequence**, Dominick Suzanne-Mayer (35/100, inferred): The critic finds the film uneven and ultimately incomplete, despite Hardy’s impressive work. They single out Hardy’s dual performances as its chief strength, while faulting the film’s inconsistent tone and lack of meaningful critique. [Read](https://consequence.net/2015/11/film-review-legend/) - **The Wrap**, Alonso Duralde (35/100, inferred): The critic finds the film stylish but shallow, with Hardy’s performance doing most of the work. Hardy’s vivid portrayal of both twins is singled out for praise, while the schematic story and polished look draw criticism. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/legend-review-tom-hardy-emily-browning-christopher-eccleston-krays/) ## Details - **Director:** Brian Helgeland - **Director:** Brian Helgeland - **Writer:** Brian Helgeland - **Cinematography:** Dick Pope - **Editor:** Peter McNulty - **Music:** Carter Burwell - **Production design:** Tom Conroy - **Costume design:** Caroline Harris - **Producer:** Brian Oliver, Chris Clark, Quentin Curtis - **Cast:** Tom Hardy as Ronald Kray / Reginald Kray; Emily Browning as Frances Shea; Christopher Eccleston as Leonard 'Nipper' Read; David Thewlis as Leslie Payne; Taron Egerton as Mad Teddy Smith; Chazz Palminteri as Angelo Bruno; Colin Morgan as Frank Shea; Paul Bettany as Charlie Richardson - **Runtime:** 2h 12m - **First release (the UK):** 3 September 2015 - **Genres:** Crime, Thriller - **Budget:** $25 million - **Box office:** $43 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pHZpqu8fes ## Where to watch in Belgium - Amazon Prime Video: rent €3.99, hd - Apple TV: rent €3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy €5.99, sd - Apple TV: buy €5.99, sd *Checked 2026-09-24.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, IT, JP, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PL, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *The Long Good Friday* (1980), Fi1m 88: Bob Hoskins as a London gangster who thinks he is a businessman; the film disagrees. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-long-good-friday.md) - *Performance* (1970), Fi1m 81: An East End enforcer hides out with a rock star and comes apart; strange and sharp. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/performance.md) - *Sexy Beast* (2000), Fi1m 85: Ray Winstone wants to retire; Ben Kingsley arrives to say no, at volume. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/sexy-beast.md) - *A Prophet* (2009), Fi1m 86: A French prison drama about a young man learning the trade the hard way. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-prophet.md) - *The Krays* (1990), Fi1m 74: The Kemp brothers play the twins in a colder, stranger version of the same story. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-krays.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/legend-2015