Martin Kemp can hold our attention by doing little, which makes him useful casting as a gangster. His Reggie in The Krays is worth watching, though restraint sometimes hardens into flatness.
Fi1m perspective
Martin Kemp's Reggie Kray does not keep reminding us to be frightened of him. In Peter Medak's The Krays (1990), he plays opposite Gary Kemp's Ronald with a guarded stillness that makes the brothers difficult to enjoy as gangsters. We cannot settle into admiring their swagger because there is so little of it. This is a good performance with a clear limitation: doing less holds our attention, but does not always make Reggie threatening.
The family scenes disturbed us more than the violence; the Kemps and Billie Whitelaw make those encounters uncomfortable without the reassurance of gangster charm. They hold our attention even when the film's account of the brothers' behaviour begins repeating itself. Medak is right not to turn them into entertaining company. Yet there are stretches when Martin's quietness gives us too little to read, and the missing charm is not reliably replaced by fear.
The move from Spandau Ballet to The Krays made good use of a performer who could hold attention without conspicuous effort. His subsequent American work included Highlander: The Series (1992) and Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992). Much of his film work after The Krays was lower-profile. Television gave him a more sustained part as nightclub owner Steve Owen in EastEnders (1998–2002). That long-running villain continued his association with dangerous characters for whom physical presence was an important part of the casting.
We would be wary of a role that asked Kemp to supply all its danger merely by standing still. The Krays shows both why a director might try it and why other actors matter: Gary's deliberately blank Ronald and Whitelaw are part of what makes Martin's restraint effective. Give him people to react against, rather than an entrance that announces the hard man. For crime-drama viewers, Medak's film is a worthwhile place to start, provided the family scenes matter more than the promise of a fright.
Biography
Martin Kemp is an English actor and musician. He is the bassist in the new wave band Spandau Ballet and the younger brother of bandmate and actor Gary Kemp.
Kemp played Reggie Kray in the 1990 film The Krays. He is also known for his role as Steve Owen in the BBC soap opera EastEnders (1998–2002). He trained as an actor from childhood at the Anna Scher Theatre in London and has appeared in television series including Highlander: The Series, The Outer Limits and Father Brown.
