Legend

Writer-director Brian Helgeland (adapting John Pearson's book) traces the squalid careers of real-life identical twins Reggie and Ronnie Kray (both played by Tom Hardy), who ran the organized crime scene in London during the 1950s and '60s before Scotland Yard finally brought them down. Helgeland tells his tale with brutal aplomb, but if he meant to show what made these psychos tick, he doesn't succeed here; there may be no explaining these guys anyhow. Still, the glimpse of Swingin' London's seamy underside is inherently fascinating, and Hardy's bravura dual performance is a stunner, sure to make everyone's short list when award time rolls around. As Reggie's emotionally fragile wife, Emily Browning is an oasis of sympathy amid the squalor, the only person in the movie we really give a damn about. J.L.