The review was part of my very small coverage of the St. Louis International Film Festival. Legend has very distinct first and second halves, and they act a lot like the twins represented. The first act is like Ronnie, the paranoid schizophrenic. It’s absolutely insane, and unhinged. Then after the midpoint, the film starts to mirror the arch of Reggie, the more sane brother who starts off ok, but soon gets more and more dour until it doesn’t mirror what it was before. It’s different. Now that’s a weird structure for a movie, but none of it is bad. The first half is certainly much more fun. It has a crazy energy to running through all of it, and it really works. I think that this is because it’s really deletable, insane, and really really shallow. There almost doesn’t seem enough room for two Tom Hardy’s and a super complex story, that’s why the second half stumbles, but the insane energy of this first half paired with its general shallowness allows the acting, and the technical aspects here to provide all the flavor a film like this would really need. I say technical aspects because, while there are some great actors in this movie, and they are all doing great work, I’m surprised how nasty Legend dares to get. It’s a gangster movie, but it’s violence is on a comedic level much like Quentin Tarantino’s at first, and the result is actually pretty jarring. So shocking, you can’t stop laughing at it is the best way to place it. But you’re still laughing at it, and it’s just entertaining. It helps that Director Brian Helgeland knows how to shoot a good action scene, and he manages to make the twin effect really work during them. He also perfectly uses early stage Shyamalan type one takes that really allow you to take in the world, especially an early scene in a club during Reggie’s first date with his later wife. It’s exciting stuff that managed to have me smiling throughout the entire first act. Then the second half comes up, and the heft of the story enters the film. This causes the film to kind of buckle under the weight of itself really. The performances still hold up in this half, but they seem to be having less fun. The darker elements of the film start to crop up too, and as Ronnie gets worse things start to fall apart for Reggie, and because of his more level headed intensity it’s really scary when he slowly starts to break apart. Hardy really holds up to the darker aspects though, and carries the film through the more weighted down elements of the film. There are a few too many characters, but all of them actually get moments to shine. Taron Egerton from Kingsman comes in as Ronnie’s lover who first starts out as a kind of a shallow character, but soon becomes a punchline for many of the darker moments of the film. Also important is Reggie’s wife Frances, who narrates the film. You may be asking yourself why I didn’t mention her earlier, and that’s because, while she commands quite a bit of the plot, she’s somewhat neglected. Around Hardy there’s not too much going on, but the characters there are interesting and funny for the most part. Legend is a film I would wholeheartedly recommend. See it for the cinematography, see it for Tom Hardy’s magnificent performances, and for that matter, see it for the best twining effect I’ve seen on screen. This is brash, brutal, and British Goodfellas, and I quite liked it. I give Legend an 8 out of 10. Review by Stephen Tronicek
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December 2017
CategoriesAuthorHello welcome to FilmAnalyst. My name is Stephen Tronicek, and I really like movies. This is a way to get my opinions out to people. Thank you for visiting. |