The "Legend" of the Next Chapter

Hihihi!

It's very late and I must go to bed soon.

But!

By way of (two) quick updates:

• New job is great!  New apartment is great!

The upgrade in quality of life since our move to New Home is sweeping, stunning, and instantaneous.  Husband and I actually get to see each other!  We have space!  Kittens are happy!  Work is busy but has (at least for the moment exceedingly) reasonable hours!

• A few months ago I watched a movie I wanted to write about, even briefly, because it's my impression that it is woefully underappreciated.

"Legend" (2015)!

Normally gangster movies really don't do much for me.  They perpetuate a tired and weird nostalgic bad-old-days mystique, they're predictable, they glorify psychopathy, and they try to swaddle misogyny in the bogus guise of infatuated "love" gone awry.  (Ew.  Spare me please, especially on this latter infraction.  Dragging someone into your drugs-and-violence-fueled catastrophic death spiral is not romantic.)

And yet!  For several reasons, I REALLY enjoyed this movie:

1. Telling an English version of a solidly American narrative gives the story a fun new flavor.

2. The 1960s mod aesthetic makes for fun costuming.

3. The fight scenes are genuinely bruising, badass, and very well-shot.

But the real standout reason to watch this movie is, very unfortunately, perhaps why it seems like basically no one saw it:

4. The main characters in the movies are twins, both of whom are played by Tom Hardy.

Even though I deeply love Tom Hardy, I almost avoided seeing "Legend" altogether because I was thrown by what I perceived as a possibly bizarrely terribad gimmick.  There was something about the trailers that didn't properly convey the "No guys but seriously this performance is actually great!!" that is warranted for this film.

Because it is!!  It is so great!!

The Kray brothers are well-developed characters who have independent arcs, and their arcs interact in at times surprising ways.  Of course their fraternal blood bond is (at times literally) wrestled with, with each brother representing either the siren song of a life of crime (Ronnie Kray) and the fragile hope of living "right" (Reggie Kray).  So the writing in this movie is actually pretty excellent, as evidenced by the new life breathed into an arguably pretty tired gangster trope.

But really, none of that would hit quite so hard if these characters weren't brought to life through Hardy's performance(s).  He is absolutely magnetic.  Far from being a distracting gimmick, the fact that he plays two of the film's main characters is delightful; not only do you get more Tom Hardy (yes plz), but you get to watch a very skilled actor thread the very challenging needle of having to act against himself.

So see it!

I gave the movie a 4.5.  Obvi I'm only holding out on that last .5 because Tom Hardy didn't play triplets.  #moretomhardyplease

{Heart}