Chuckles Film Reviews-Burton and Taylor and Legend

This will be, I hope, a recurring feature that will be on the blog each time I watch a film. I used to love films so much and could watch a pile of them in my spare time. However with my focus on reading, I find little time to enjoy films that are new to me but now I need to start clearing the unwatched pile and get some space back! Here are the latest films I watched.

1) Burton And Taylor
Starring Dominic West, Helena Bonham-Carter, Lenora Crichlow, Sarah Hadland, Greg Hicks and William Hope.

After their second divorce, tongues start to wag in the media when Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton announce that they are doing a stage play together. 

Elizabeth Taylor and her husbands have always interested me to read about and watch various films and documentaries about. Her stormy relationship with Richard Burton, beginning with their affair on the set of Cleopatra is fascinating. I had never heard of this film but I was aware that they had decided to do this stage play together which led to them developing a friendship in the run up to Burton's sudden death.

I thought that the acting of the two main actors was very good. I'm a big fan of Helena Bonham-Carter and I thought she made the perfect Elizabeth in this film. I can't say much about supporting cast as the focus was very heavily on Richard and Elizabeth. The film focuses on the awkwardness of the relationship, Elizabeth's drug addiction and alcohol issues hampering her work, the mean things they say and do to upset the other and the pair trying to work out their true feelings for each other when both are with new partners. I liked looking at that relationship as they work out that they do love each other but are too toxic as a pair to get back together. 

I thought it was an interesting film but I'd only really recommend it if you are familiar with their story, are fans of the couple or love the Noel Coward stage play 'Private Lives'.

2) Legend
Starring Tom Hardy, Christopher Eccleston, David Thewlis, Alex Fearns, Taron Egerton, Colin Morgan and Emily Browning.  

Reggie Kray is able to blackmail a psychiatrist into declaring his brother Ronnie sane and allowing him to be released. This impacts on Reggie's attempts to be a legitimate businessman and husband.

I've seen a few films about the Krays before and pretty much know the whole story of what they did and how they ended up in prison. I can understand why people in the East End still regard them as some kind of heroes, as their victims were other gangsters who were often beating up innocent business owners, so no great loss to society. They were known and well liked in the area for charity work and kind acts to locals. I can see that this and their successful clubs and celebrity contacts made them seem like celebrities themselves, though I don't agree in worshipping killers personally. However I certainly have no sympathy for the men they killed. 

Tom Hardy's acting in this film was outstanding, playing the part of both twins. He was perfect as the mentally damaged, vicious tempered Ronnie. I liked seeing the exploration of Ronnie's gay relationships and how he gradually became more comfortable in being open about it. I did have sympathy to a certain extent as there is no doubt that he did have serious mental health issues and should never have been removed from the professional care he was getting inside. There were moments in the film where he was totally out of control and beating people up but there were moments of clarity when he seemed lost and confused as to why he was behaving that way. It makes him an interesting and complex character. I particularly liked the party scene when he was tunelessly singing 'Something Stupid'. 

Tom portayed Reggie as a smooth and charming man who was well liked by those in the local area. He wanted to be successful in business and was opening entertainment venues that became popular with singers and actors, and which brought the brothers into contact with influencial politicians. Reggie and Ronnie's relationship becomes fraught when Ronnie disapproves of Reggie marrying Frances, and running the business into the ground when Reggie is in prison for a short spell. The supporting cast in this film were excellent, most as gangsters and cronies, while Eccleston was good as the cop obsessed with taking the brothers down at any cost. 

My only issue with this film was the focus on the love story between Reggie and Frances. We were getting so much of the story from the point of view of Frances-her troubled relationship with Ronnie, how the Kray's mother didn't approve of her, how her own mother didn't approve of Reggie, the on-off relationship with Reggie, her reactions to Ronnie's love life, trying to get Reggie to go straight...we were getting scenes of their dates, the gifts she received for her birthday from Reggie etc and I felt there was too much of that in the foreground when it wasn't that relevant to the main story. Had it just been a gritty and brutal gangster film with Frances very much background, I would have loved it because the acting was just so good. Just a bit too much of Reggie's short marriage for my taste.