Legend is one of those movies you can settle back and relish throughout with confidence after the successful first couple of scenes: wonderful cinematography and design, a confident script, tight direction and Tom Hardy giving two of the most complete and enjoyable performances that you will see all year. By concentrating on the initially rather sweet relationship between Reggie Kray and the love-of-his-life Frances - in a carefully-paced performance by Emily Browning - it is Reggie who perhaps feels the most rounded character here, but Hardy magnetically imbues both brothers with their individual traits and likewise the film trades on a fine balance of charm, bravado and menace. It is a surprisingly funny film, partially to defuse the gangland penchant for uber-violence but also owing to the nostalgia-filter that now makes the 1960s almost quaint. Nevertheless, the technology that allows Hardy to play both brothers is never even remotely an issue here, as Legend enables him to showcase two terrific performances (and especially when he is interacting with 'himself') for the price of one admission.
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