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| DOUBLE TROUBLE: Tom Hardy is mesmeric in the irresistible Legend |
IF YOU want to savour the swagger, ambition and sheer skill of Tom Hardy then head to Legend.
Legend (Cert 18; 131mins)
The world really doesn’t need another film celebrating the notoriety of gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray but the decision to have Hardy play both brothers gives this lengthy film an irresistible appeal. It is much more than a flashy gimmick or a display of quicksilver editing. Hardy creates two distinctive personalities and enhances our perception of the bond between brothers for whom blood was most definitely thicker than water.
Once absorbed in the characters and the story, you quickly move on from the technical challenges of the dual performance. Ultimately, there may not be a lot to choose between them in terms of violence and volatility but initially suave, smooth-talking Reggie appears to be the more reasonable of the duo.
He has some style, a bit of dash and a clear eye on growing and protecting his territory. The East End gangsters become big-time players with connections to the top echelons of the British establishment and interests in Soho. Ronnie is someone you would run a mile to avoid.
He is thuggish, unstable and brazenly gay at a time when Britain considered homosexuality a crime. He is a chilling force of nature that Hardy plays to the hilt. American writer/director Brian Helgeland is inclined to indulge a glossy nostalgia for Swinging Sixties London. Was it really this glamorous? Were the suits quite so sharp, were the smoky nightclubs this chic, the singers this sultry?
You suspect, perhaps wrongly, that it was all a bit more cheap and tawdry than he suggests. It is a lurid, larger-than-life approach that is matched by the scale of Hardy’s performances. It could almost be a comic-book version of the period and the Krays.
Unusually, events are seen from the perspective of Reggie’s wife Frances Shea (Emily Browning) who wistfully narrates the story of her marriage and the brothers’ burgeoning criminal empire, including events that logically she couldn’t possibly have known about. It is a cautionary tale as Frances is always a threat to the closeness of the brothers. Unfortunately, Emily Browning never gets the chance to make a big impression and Tara Fitzgerald is equally short-changed as the boys’ mother Violet.
Compare that with how unforgettable Billie Whitelaw’s Violet was in the 1990 film The Krays. The rise of the Krays sows the seeds of their inevitable downfall. Dogged detective Leonard “Nipper” Read (Christopher Eccleston) gives the impression of someone who will always gets his man, even if that man is a Kray.
The salty dialogue, graphic violence and lush soundtrack add to the film’s surface dazzle but the strong supporting cast don’t always get much to do. Taron Egerton as Ronnie’s lover Mad Teddy, David Thewlis as backroom power broker Leslie Payne and Chazz Palminteri as American hoodlum Angelo Bruno all add some colour to the mix but it is hard to compete when Tom Hardy is on such blistering form.
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| ATTRACTION: Phoenix and Stone |
Irrational Man (Cert 12A; 95mins)
The annual Woody Allen offering Irrational Man is an existential murder mystery revisiting territory that Allen has covered much more memorably in Crimes And Misdemeanours. Joaquin Phoenix stars as Abe Lucas, a philosophy professor at a small Rhode Island college. He has a reputation as a radical thinker and an irresistible Don Juan.
But this is a man mired in doubt, depression and world-weary angst. He still seems to attract plenty of female attention, including lonely academic Rita (Parker Posey) and bright, adoring student Jill (Emma Stone). One evening, he overhears a conversation in which a woman reveals that she is locked in a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband and a corrupt judge. Wouldn’t the world be a better place if that judge wasn’t in it?
Now that really ignites a spark in Abe. Could a perfect crime restore some meaning to his empty existence? Irrational Man lacks the depth and conviction of Allen’s landmark films and starts to stray into Columbo territory in the second half. Watchable enough but a little underwhelming. The
VERDICT: 3/5
Visit (Cert 15; 94mins)
Anyone hoping that The Visit marks a return to form for director M. Night Shyamalan might do well to curb their enthusiasm. This lowbudget horror comedy certainly finds The Sixth Sense director going back to basics but the horror isn’t especially frightening, the comedy is a matter of taste and the big twist we have come to expect from Shyamalan is probably something you will easily second-guess.
Aspiring filmmaker Rebecca (Olivia DeJonge) and her annoying younger brother and aspiring rapper Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) head off to the country to spend some time with their grandparents. After a long estrangement their mother (Kathryn Hahn) has finally been reconciled with her parents.
Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie) welcome the children and lay down the house rules. Have a great time, eat their fill and never, ever leave their room after 9.30pm. Why that last rule is so important is soon revealed. Moderate fun but fairly forgettable.
VERDICT:2/5
Containment (Cert 15; 77mins)
British disaster movie Containment does the best it can with a decent premise and a modest budget. Mark (Lee Ross) awakens one morning to find his tower block under siege. Desperate neighbours crash through the wall.
All of them have been quarantined. A soothing voice advises them not to panic but as sinister figures arrive to round them up, order is abandoned and the survival of the fittest prevails. The short running time means that none of the characters are very developed and the plot doesn’t entirely convince but this is still ambitious home-grown filmmaking.
VERDICT:3/5
La Famille Belier (Cert 12A; 103mins)
There is an element of Billy Elliot in this comingof-age crowd-pleaser as farm girl Paula (Louane Emera) is forced to defy her parents in pursuit of the one thing in life she really wants to do. Her parents Gigi (Karin Viard) and Rodolphe (Francois Damiens) are both deaf and Paula provides a way for them to communicate with the wider world. How will they and their dairy farm survive without her if she wins a chance to study music in Paris?
La Famille Belier attracted some controversy for casting hearing actors as the parents but it is very well-acted and irresistible. Louane Emera was a semi-finalist in the French version of The Voice and is a real find, matching acting ability with a fabulous singing voice. When she puts her heart and soul into Michel Sardou’s Je Vole there will not be a dry eye in the cinema.
VERDICT: 4/5
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (Cert 12A; 131mins)
If they ever commission a Bake Off spin-off devoted to the art of ironing and pressing clothes you really hope they call it The Scorch Trials. In the meantime, it is the subtitle for the epic second instalment of the dystopian science-fiction yarn aimed at young adults and in a similar vein to The Hunger Games.
You will recall that Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and friends had escaped from the Maze at the end of the first film only to discover elements of the much bigger picture.
There is still little sense of who he should trust in here as the survivors test themselves against the bleak desert wastelands of the Scorch in search of a safe haven. Mystery organisation WCKD seems to be at the root of all the evil and freedom fighters are around to raise their hopes in what is basically another helter-skelter chase through a lengthy obstacle course that ends with another cliffhanger in anticipation of further instalments.
VERDICT: 3/5
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