Review #974: 'Legend' (2015)

Peter Medak's 1990 film The Krays, starring Gary and Martin Kemp from Spandau Ballet as the titular London geezers, was decent, anchoring the twins' narrative on their overbearing mother, played ferociously by Billie Whitelaw. But seeing the film now, over two decades later, its synth-heavy score makes it feel dated and presses the need for a modern re-telling. Director Brian Helgeland bagged one of the most charismatic actors on the planet to play not one, but both of the twins for his update, and when the trailer first emerged on the internet for Legend, it felt like we were finally getting the definitive story of two of the most notorious gangsters in British history. So how on Earth did Legend turn out so mind-numbingly terrible?

In the early scenes we are carried along on a wave of genre cliches, from the spontaneous date proposal from the charming bad boy to the curious girl who should really know better, to a Steadicam shot of a swinging nightclub interior as the girl drinks this glamorous new world in without questioning how such luxury was achieved. It works like a students version of Goodfellas (1990), only without the originality, style or sparkling dialogue. The girl is Frances, or Frankie, and her new fella just happens to be Reggie Kray (Tom Hardy), former boxer-turned-criminal kingpin who, along with his twin Ronnie (also Hardy), are well on their path to ruling London with an iron fist. However, Legend seems more invested in the relationship between Reggie and Frankie than any of the twins' brutal schemes, and Emily Browning fails to inject any life into a thanklessly written role.

One of many of the film's baffling decisions is to have Frankie provide the voice-over, forcing her to deliver such lines as "a cup of tea can solve anything," with semi-conviction. Helgeland's script for L.A. Confidential won an Oscar in 1997, but Legend's dialogue makes the dullest of ITV dramas sound like Shakespeare spoken by Alan Rickman (R.I.P.). Yet this could be forgiven had the on-screen action possess an ounce of narrative coherency. Instead, Helgeland portrays the ups-and-downs of Reggie and Frankie's rocky marriage, dipping in and out of the Krays criminal activities whenever it seems to want to show us someone getting punched or shouted at in a style not to dissimilar to the work of Guy Ritchie.

Hardy tries his best, but his two characters have been written so cartoon-like that it's difficult take them seriously. Reggie is the brain who hides his violent urges, and Ronnie is the unhinged muscle who has no desire to disguise his brutal tendencies, seemingly revelling in telling other gangsters of his preference to boys. Ronnie is certainly the most interesting of the twins, but he gets a surprising lack of screen-time. His scenes with his more successful and handsome brother provide the stand-out moments, namely a bar fight that sees Hardy fight Hardy, but the complexity of their rocky relationship is only glimpsed and barely explored. Small roles for the likes of David Thewlis, Christopher Eccleston, Sam Spruell, John Sessions, Paul Bettany and Taron Egerton are highlights - Egerton, as 'Mad' Teddy Smith, in particular - but this is small praise for a film that simply left me bored and unenlightened.


Directed by: Brian Helgeland
Starring: Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, Christopher Eccleston, Taron Egerton, David Thewlis, Sam Spruell, Chazz Palminteri
Country: UK/France/USA

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #250: 'Sleeping Beauty' (2011)

In a scene towards the climax of the film, we see Lucy (Emily Browning), taking a lesson at university where the lecturer seems to be analyzing a game of chess. The question is proposed, asking why would someone make a move securing their defeat? This seems to be relevant for Browning's character throughout this very interesting tale of sexual depravity and the detachment of the female body to the masculine libido. Lucy works her way through education, financing her way with various menial jobs. She begins a job with an exclusive, and very clandestine operation, beginning simply with silver service waitressing in "risque" negligee. This of course progresses into a more dangerous level, when she is offered a very well-paid gig involved a drugging so that she may sleep whilst a client does what he wishes. Although, as promised in Lucy's first interview, "Your vagina will not be penetrated".

From first time director Julia Leigh, the film has various similarities to Luis Bunuel's excellent Belle de Jour (1967), mainly in it's depiction of a strong female character who wishes to delve into a dangerous world of male desires. However, unlike Bunuel's film, Leigh has created a character in Lucy, who seems utterly detached from the people around her. She does visit Birdman (Ewne Leslie), who seems to be agoraphobic, but this is not elaborated on. She seems also very willing to do things without questioning. In one scene she is offered a pill after her work in a restaurant, she asks what it is, but takes it without having had an answer.

The film is self-consciously European in it's atmosphere and pace. The handling of the subject matter is never gratuitous, neither does it spoon feed a message of masochistic perversity. Browning is excellently vacuous in the role, gently drifting from situation to situation with not a question or any adversity. The film is beautiful to look at (and I don't just mean the alabaster figure of the nude Browning), it's pallet of autumnal colours adding extra references to 1970's European cinema. There is no doubt that this film will divide viewers. Dirty old men ogling over a sleeping, naked 22 year old, will make for uncomfortable viewing for some, but I felt that this was not exploitational in it's depiction. We also never really see what these old men do in the time they are given with the "sleeping beauty". All we get is an almost confessional from one of the customers. After being advised by Clara (Rachel Blake) that there is no penetration, the client states: "The only way I can get a hard-on, is if I take 12 Viagra and get a beautiful lady to shove her fingers up my arse".

The films conclusion is haunting, beautifully realised and ambiguous. It certainly raises more questions than it answers about this detached and seemingly passive female character in a world of strange male desire. A film that will resonate in your mind some time after it has finished.


Directed by: Julia Leigh
Starring: Emily Browning, Rachael Blake, Ewen Leslie, Michael Dorman
Country: Australia

Rating: ****

Marc Ivamy

Review #142: 'Sucker Punch' (2011)

Zack Snyder has directed a couple of quite good films (Dawn of the Dead (2004), and Watchmen (2008)), but this debut as the story/screenplay co-writer, shows that he is more of a visual stylist than one for narrative complexity. Snyder's formative years in television commercials has shown through his film career; fast editing; the oh-so-tired and cliched use of speed and slow motion in action sequences. In Sucker Punch however, the narrative/visual structure works on this with self-contained sequences, amounting to a series of commercials. The "adverts" (or even music videos) are fantasies of Baby Doll (Emily Browning). What these dreams are structurally also, are levels in a video game. To get to the next level, she must complete the task.

Baby Doll is being incarcerated into Lennox home for the mentally ill by her "evil" step-father. A lobotomy is ordered. This is where she delves into her imagination, constructing a world where she is imprisoned in a bordello and controlled by men who make them perform for them. Escape is on her mind. When Baby Doll is forced to "dance" for the audience, she goes even further into a dual fantasy where she is given orders by "Games Master", The Wise Man (Scott Glenn). These game-level "bosses" are visual cliches in themselves. Baby Doll and her appointed gang consisting of Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jenna Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), and Amber (Jamie Chung), must battle giant monster-samurai on level one; German zombies in CGI WWI on level two; lord of the rings-like orcs and dragons on level 3......and so on. These fantasies of Baby Doll's are constructed as a device (in the bordello she is simply dancing), which make a simple task such as stealing a lighter off a dumb cook, is turned into a fight for survival from monsters!

This is absurdly expensive, derivative nonsense. It's an awful brickolage of visuals that have been on our screens for the last decade. The game-like structure is utterly ridiculous (yes, this type of structure was used to good effect in 2009's Scott Pilgrim vs The World, but that film played as pastiche), and Sucker just uses this device as a means to project dazzling computer effects. They make no narrative sense. Is her dance visually like the fighting in her fantasies? Even if you did want to hide from the reality itself, why would you construct over-elaborate fighting levels just to get a map? These questions are irrelevant, the main concept behind this movie is the perverse collection of fantasy dolls that make up the gang; all short skirts, underwear and stockings. It's a teenage boys wet dream, the product of a juvenile mind. As a teenager in an adults body, I have to say it was nice. However, the film did not have any excitement to it. The characters were bland facsimiles of genre regulars. The action was so similar to so many of these type today, it was hard to care about it, and became tedious very quickly.

Directed by: Zack Snyder
Starring: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Carla Gugino, Jon Hamm, Scott Glenn
Country: USA/Canada

Rating: **

Marc Ivamy