The Krays

Peter Medak directed this film from the screenplay of Philip Ridley. Both have done great films like Romeo Is Bleeding (Medak) and Passion of Darkly Noon (Ridley) and The Krays is not an exception. It tells the story of real life Kray twins gangsters (Gary and Martin Kemp from Spandau Ballet) that kept England in horror in the middle of 1900's. They were born to normal family where their mother (Billie Whitelaw), a very strong female character, brought them up among a world that was filled with "useless men" and females that fought in difficult circumstances during war and poverty. When the twin brothers grew, they began to get power and finally they become very powerful and strong gangsters, who finally met their destiny.

This film is a depiction of power, greed and money and how it corrupts. "When people are afraid of you, you can do anything" says Ronnie Kray to his brother Reggie. The greediness and other forms of corruption - like revenge - become so strong that they finally destroy everything the brothers have reached. The theme is pretty much the same as in DePalma's Scarface and many other similar depictions of power and money. The last scene in The Krays is very powerful and important as it crystallizes the whole message of the film.

The film also tells about females and love. Love is also destroyed because other things become more important for Reggie, who has found a girlfriend. This film has also very powerful female characters, mainly the mother of brothers. She is very feminine and all the female characters seem to hate males in this movie, but that is perhaps all some males deserve in the film since all they seem to be able to do is getting drunk and fight and not help the females in any way.

Technically The Krays is a proof of Medak's talent as the photography is great and the film is very powerful in its elements. The part when mother Kray realizes what her boys do "for living" is very powerful and told with the very effective tools of cinema. Music is often effective and violence is off putting, as the attitudes and values of the movie's characters are, too. This film is very powerful as the aforementioned last scene is very sad and though provoking, and really underlines the final message of the film. I think the characters are somewhat too shallow occasionally and their acts are not fully explained all the time. That is also the case in another film written by Philip Ridley, The Passion of Darkly Noon. Mostly I'm irritated how Reggie treats his wife since there seems to be believable emotional relationship between the two. Also, the girl who plays Reggie's wife over-acts little in some scenes and it is irritating to watch as it is not as realistic and natural as possible. If the characters were little more natural and believable, this would be even greater piece of cinema.

The Krays is important piece of 90's cinema and very powerful depiction of different kinds of corruption that finally lead to destruction and death of dreams. I give this 8/10 and the film is recommended for those who appreciate films like Romeo is Bleeding and Scarface, for instance.

Before this one, speaking of British gangster epic, there was THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY, and before there was GET CARTER.... Period. Don't look further. Plus, this terrific film is the best ever made about the Krays brothers real life. The most gripping, accurate, brutal, far better than LEGEND starring Tom Hardy - who will later play AlCapone - or even better than the two other films made in the meantime, since LEGEND. Everything is flawless for me here; it remains very British whilst using the American rise and fall scheme for gangsters, in the pure Scorcese's way. I guess Peter Medak the director - usually a bland, lame film maker - was himself inspired by THE GOOD FELLAS story telling. I am sure. And why not?

The violence, loyalty, fear, blood and traditions are all present and correct. The Kemp bros., especially Gary, give superbly sinister and dangerous portrayals of the twins. You can't fault it's accuracy on who the twins were or how they grew up. However, the events shown are lacking in relevance to how they really happened and are taken from the point of view of Gang members who so obviously lied during their trial. The film also lacks on the other gang members, no member is named as being Tony Lambrianou or Freddie Foreman, for example. Although this is secondary to the twins themselves, for people who know the real story it does make it a little less enjoyable.

I watched the film in the context of a historical study into London and its underworld from the 18th to 20th centuries, so I apologise in advance if this review seems overly academic.

The Krays were a fascinating pair, and this film shows the continuing interest in their lives and crimes, which has continued past their deaths. The film accurately shows the individual quirks and fascinations of the brothers while remaining a drama, rather than a documentary (and there are quite a few about).

The enormous presence of the Krays in London history is proven by the Monty Python sketch on the Pirhana Brothers, Doug and Dinsdale - made a single year after the Krays were imprisoned. If you don't know it, it's worth a look-see.

Martin and Gary Kemp, seasoned performers themselves were chillingly well-cast as the twins, who used the media themselves to promote their place as "Diamond Geezers" in East End London. The Krays themselves served as advisors on the film, with the Kemps visiting them in prison to meet and learn about their role from them.

From what I've read about them, I think the Krays would have liked this film about them, especially that proper brothers - twins, in fact - were playing them.

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By the way, the copy of the film I borrowed had a special cover which had a pocket over the name "The Krays" with 'blood' (red fluid) in it. It suited the film and subject matter well - one up for the designers.

I hadn't seen the ratings on IMDb until after watching the movie itself. I have to say, that is some harsh reviews there. The whole film was indeed enjoyable, it portrayed the Krays and London gang-lands as a whole, very well. There were moments in the film where it became very boring and quite monotonous, in the sense that it seemed as if it were never going to end, but the last thirty minutes really makes the film worth watching. After seeing Goodfellas and hearing that it was a lot like that but a little less funny and, of course, a lot more English-based, I expected quite a lot. Nevertheless, this film still surprised me and maintained to keep me on edge throughout the entirety of its showing. If I could give it any rating, I'd give it around 7.6, but I'd have to round this to 8. It's a brilliant film and it doesn't merely deserve 6.6 overall.