By Eric Hillis, http://www.TheMovieWaffler.com
originally published: 11/21/2015
Given how a substantial portion of the British film industry has subsisted on London set gangster flicks over the past couple of decades (you can blame Guy Ritchie for the trend), it’s remarkable that the city’s most famous real-life mobsters, the Kray twins, haven’t found their exploits mined by countless low budget filmmakers. It’s 25 years since Peter Medak’s take on the subject, 1990’s The Krays, which cast pop-star brothers Gary and Martin Kemp as the title duo. Brian Helgeland’s Legend takes the next logical casting step, dropping Tom Hardy into both roles.
Unlike Medak’s film, which focused on the relationship between the brothers and their domineering mother, Helgeland’s film begins in 1966, with paranoid schizophrenic Ronnie newly released from a psychiatric ward, thanks to the intimidation of his psychiatrist. Waiting on the outside is his twin brother Reggie, who has been building quite the criminal empire in his twin’s absence. Thus begins a riff on Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, as Ronnie’s psychotic behaviour threatens to tear apart everything Reggie has built.
Every piece of marketing around Legend has centered around the dual casting of Hardy, and while it’s fascinating to watch at the outset, it quickly becomes a millstone around the film’s neck. The effect is quite poor when compared to contemporaries like Armie Hammer’s Winklevoss twins in The Social Network and Sam Rockwell and his clone in Moon. There’s usually a physical division between the two brothers - bar counters, tables etc - which draws unwanted attention to the effect, and in several scenes the eye-lines don’t quite match. Hardy gives an energetic dual performance but too many scenes evoke that classic Star Trek episode in which William Shatner faced off against an evil, goateed version of himself.
Writer-director Brian Helgeland is best known for penning the screenplay for L.A. Confidential, a movie that brilliantly conveyed a sense of time and place, making Los Angeles one of the film’s main characters. Sadly, this isn’t a feat repeated here; London is hidden in the background here, glimpsed through green-screen windows as a poorly rendered CG skyline, as artificial as Frasier’s Seattle. London was the center of the earth in 1966, a city at its cultural peak the way New York would be a decade later, but Legend may as well be set in Coventry in 1973 for all the context we’re given.
At over two hours, the film wastes a lot of time on extended dialogue scenes, telling us constantly how powerful the Krays are, but it rarely demonstrates this visually. Much of the film focuses on the doomed relationship between Reggie and his young bride Frances (Emily Browning), who provides an unnecessary voiceover narration, and if you’ve seen any gangster movie, their argumentative scenes together will feel all too familiar. A sub-plot involving Chazz Palminteri’s representative of the American Mafia leads nowhere, and feels inserted purely to help sell the movie Stateside. Christopher Eccleston pops up as the cop investigating the brothers, but this is another element that’s barely covered.
The sight of Tom Hardy attempting to out-act himself is just about enough to hold your attention for a good portion of the film, but after a while the lack of substance begins to weigh heavy and the strings become all too visible. East End? More like dead end!
Atonement
Sunday, November 08, 2026 @ 12:00pm
Teaneck International Film Festival - Teaneck Cinemas
503 Cedar Lane, Teaneck, NJAmidst the chaos of the Iraq War, the Khachaturian family is trapped in a firefight between U.S. Marines and insurgents, and one Marine’s split-second decision devastates the family. Years later, haunted by his time in Iraq and aided by a New Yorker journalist, the Marine seeks to reconcile with the Khachaturian matriarch. Anchored by unforgettable performances from Boyd Holbrook (A Complete Unknown, Narcos, The Morning Show), Hiam Abbass (Succession), and Kenneth Branagh, Atonement is a powerfully human true story about the immeasurable costs of war, exploring universal questions about guilt, redemption, and the nature of forgiveness.
The Dads - New Jersey Premiere!
Sunday, November 08, 2026 @ 2:30pm
Teaneck International Film Festival - Teaneck Cinemas
503 Cedar Lane, Teaneck, NJA group of dads building a movement to support their trans and gender expansive kids are forced to make an impossible choice amid a shifting political landscape: stay and fight or flee the country.
The Choice - New Jersey Premiere!
Sunday, November 08, 2026 @ 5:00pm
Teaneck International Film Festival - Teaneck Cinemas
503 Cedar Lane, Teaneck, NJ A haunting yet life-affirming film about reframing pain and the radical power of choice. It follows grieving mother Iris Haim as she mourns the loss of her son in the aftermath of October 7th and forms an unexpected bond with Dr. Edith Eger—a renowned psychologist, author, and Auschwitz survivor—whose hard-won wisdom guides her toward transformation.
Women On Trial - East Coast Premiere!
Sunday, November 08, 2026 @ 7:30pm
Teaneck International Film Festival - Teaneck Cinemas
503 Cedar Lane, Teaneck, NJ1972. A landmark trial shakes France as young Marie-Claire is prosecuted for having an illegal abortion with the help of her mother and two other defendants. In a courtroom governed by men, the verdict seems inevitable: prison for the women, while the rapist goes unpunished. Their last hope lies with Gisèle Halimi, a fearless lawyer known for openly challenging patriarchy and confronting the system that condemns victims and lets perpetrators walk free. Alongside the accused, Gisèle will not only change their fate, but, against all odds, transform the condition of women forever.
American Pachuco: The Legend Of Luis Valdez
Sunday, November 08, 2026 @ 2:00pm
Teaneck International Film Festival - Puffin Cultural Forum
20 Puffin Way, Teaneck, NJAgainst political resistance and industry skepticism, Luis Valdez pushes Chicano storytelling from the fields to the film screen with Zoot Suit and La Bamba, crafting iconic works that challenge, celebrate, and expand America’s story.
Far Out: Life On & After The Commune - New Jersey Premiere!
Sunday, November 08, 2026 @ 4:30pm
Teaneck International Film Festival - Puffin Cultural Forum
20 Puffin Way, Teaneck, NJFar Out: Life On & After the Commune traces fifty years in the lives of a group of New England writers, activists and artists. It conveys how the 1960s counterculture, embodied in two rural communes, transformed America. The story begins when a group of radical journalists leave New York for a new life in the country and follows them from the back-to-the-land movement to a new discovery of political commitment.
We Met At Grossingers - Teaneck Premiere!
Sunday, November 08, 2026 @ 12:00pm
Teaneck International Film Festival - Temple Emeth
1666 Windsor Road, Teaneck, NJWe Met at Grossinger’s is an immersive journey through the Jewish Catskills—once known as the Borscht Belt—reviving the iconic resort that inspired Dirty Dancing and defined an era of Jewish American life.
Dust Bowls And Jewish Souls
Sunday, November 08, 2026 @ 3:00pm
Teaneck International Film Festival - Temple Emeth
1666 Windsor Road, Teaneck, NJMany know Woody Guthrie as the quintessential Oklahoman balladeer who wrote “This Land Is Your Land,” but few are aware that Jewish culture had a hand in shaping his private life and career. From award-winning filmmaker Steven Pressman (
The Levys of Monticello),
Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls explores Guthrie’s moving relationship with his mother-in-law, prominent Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt, and the impact she had on his songwriting.
Jane Elliott Against The World - Weekend Closing Night - New Jersey Premiere!
Sunday, November 08, 2026 @ 7:30pm
Teaneck International Film Festival - Temple Emeth
1666 Windsor Road, Teaneck, NJA rural Iowa schoolteacher becomes a national voice against racism after leading a controversial 1968 lesson in discrimination with her all-white third-grade class. Now nearly 90, she refuses to hold back amid today’s fights about race, history, and power after a lifetime of speaking out.
EVENT PREVIEWS
Teaneck International Film Festival names first recipient of Sandi Klein Creative Woman in Film Award
(TEANECK, NJ) -- The Teaneck International Film Festival (TIFF) has named filmmaker Luchina Fisher the first recipient of the Sandi Klein Creative Woman in Film Award, a new annual honor celebrating an exceptional woman whose work reflects the creativity, curiosity, integrity and commitment to social impact that defined Klein's life and her nearly two decades with the festival. The award includes a $1,000 grant. Fisher will receive the inaugural award at the TIFF screening of her film, The Dads, on Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 2:30 pm at Teaneck Cinemas (503 Cedar Lane).
"Directors' Commentary" to have NJ Premiere at SModcastle Film Festival
(ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ) -- After its world premiere at Dances With Films LA (DWFLA), one of the nation's leading indie film festivals, Directors' Commentary will have its New Jersey Premiere at SModcastle Film Festival, hosted by filmmaker Kevin Smith. The film will screen on Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 12:00pm.
Teaneck International Film Festival Names Katie Camosy Recipient of 2026 Emerging Filmmaker Activist Award for "Gaslit"
(TEANECK, NJ) -- The Teaneck International Film Festival (TIFF) and The Puffin Foundation have selected director Katie Camosy as the recipient of the 2nd Annual Emerging Filmmaker Activist Award for her documentary Gaslit. The award includes a $5,000 cash prize and trophy and recognizes emerging filmmakers whose work embodies TIFF's guiding theme, "Activism: Making Change."
James R. Halsey Foundation Student Film Showcase to Take Place November 12th
(TRENTON, NJ) -- The James R. Halsey Foundation of the Arts (JRH), a 501c3 non-profit agency dedicated to providing quality arts education and mentoring to youth in the City of Trenton and greater New Jersey area presents the 2026 Student Film Showcase. Taking place on November 12th at the New Jersey State Museum Auditorium from 5:00pm - 8:00pm, this event features three films, written, directed, and produced by students, as well as a documentary focused on raising awareness on men's mental health, featuring authentic student voices and professional interviews.
Count Basie Center for the Arts to Celebrate Centennial with an immersive re-enactment of its opening night
(RED BANK, NJ) -- Count Basie Center for the Arts will cap its Centennial Celebration with an immersive re-enactment of its opening night on Saturday, November 14, 2026 at 6:00pm. Patrons can expect an immersive theatrical presentation from the moment they approach the venue – from 'stars' of the era arriving in classic cars, Gatsby-esque fashion and flair, an authentic speakeasy experience with custom, era-specific cocktails and mocktails, 1920s hot jazz and more.
Learn about producing films with "Producing 101: From Script to Set with The Gig Media"
(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- Interested in filmmaking? You can learn how to produce a film like a pro at "Producing 101: From Script to Set with The Gig Media" on Saturday, November 14, 2026 at Miraley Studios in Jersey City.
The Clairidge hosts Indie Film Showcase on November 21st
(MONTCLAIR, NJ) -- On Saturday, November 21, 2026, The Clairidge hosts a film showcase featuring three indie films - Wedding Night, Lady in the Mirror, and End of the Line: Brotherhood. Dive into three epic tales, one screen, and endless vibes at The Official Film Showcase. Showtime is 1:30pm.
