To me, this movie is perfection.

Let's be realistic.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Is there anything Tom Hardy can't do? Great performance from Emily Browning too. I liked how the film treated the relationship between the twin brothers- it becomes the centre of the movie. I find the pair fascinating as twins more than as gangsters. Btw, if you are usually annoyed by voice-over narration (as I am) hang in there as here it turns out to be a clever device.

"Legend", the Limey version of Scorsese's "Casino", a film that also fell a little short of its mark but is relentlessly entertaining, in part, due to its overlapping scores that P.T Anderson would perfect in "Magnolia". This film's score, however, actually repels the viewer instead of sucking them in. We hear Duffy's "Make The World Go Away" twice, which would have been fine if there was a point to hearing it again but I just thought it was lazy. Speaking of lazy, Carter Burwell only supplied 2 original pieces... that sound exactly the same. The 1st is the "Legend" theme when the Krays are in the backseat of their car, being driven nowhere specific and lord, is it every sleepy and dreary? Not the type of introductory music you want when introducing the leads, who become one note caricatures themselves- still one note more than the theme had though. The 2nd is "Your Race Is Run", which plays during the epilogue when Reggie has killed The Hat- the defining moment of the entire film, alas, played by what sounds to be a coffee house band of High School children. The trumpet sounds as if it were put in someone's hands while they were sleeping, every exhale another overdrawn note. Carter Burwell, you are a lucky duck. Being given a "Music By" credit for two versions of the same terrible song. With so many musicians and conductors chomping at the bit for work, I can't defend this yawn-inducing entry that assists in "Legend's" downfall after act 2. What's happened to standards?

The original film about the subject "The Krays" (1990) had Billie Whitelaw as their mother and, somehow, she dominated my memory of the film. Here the twins have a mother but she is, on the film, a distant character and that's what I missed here. I missed their interaction. She clearly had a massive influence in their characters but in Legend, those pieces of the puzzle are unfortunately missing. But, Tom Hardy compensates for any flaws. He is extraordinary, twice. The twins are total individuals, totally two people. What they carry in common is a sort of sexual danger, one explicitly the other implicitly but both as powerful. They dare us to get close. Amazing performance(s)

I really enjoyed Legend towards the beginning — lots of great local color & interesting characters & the fight at the Pig & Whistle is one of the jolliest I've ever seen. Only Ronnie Kray could have been maniacal enough to convince a whole bar full of hard cases intent on serious mischief that: a) he'd brought along two pistols to what he reckoned to be a shootout, b) he'd get so infuriated that the other side was armed with nothing more than iron pipes & the like & c) he'd forget about his twin brother & stalk off in sheer indignation.It was far less enjoyable, tho no less brilliant, later on when it all turned dark & nasty. I'm sure it must have felt much like that to the Krays too, watching their lives spin out of control.Tom Hardy did a brilliant job portraying both twins; I had to keep reminding myself this was the same actor, all the while marveling at his versatility. His characterization of violently schizoid Ronnie was admirably nuanced. Making him hateful would have been so so easy, but half the time Hardy had you feeling sorry for the poor daft bugger. Brilliant. The very best of the Kray films, I calls it.