When I first read about this film, I automatically took it like they had ripped off the movie title from the Ridley Scott fantasy classic. A friend of mine brought it up recently so I decided to check it out. The highlight for me was Tom Hardy playing as twin brothers who are gangsters in this sort of 50s noir settings. It seemed at some parts he's trying so hard that it looked and sounded ridiculous with his accent, haha. But I do like the technique they did to appear as there are two of him in the frame, perhaps with double exposure(?) and/or stunt double. That part reminded me of other past films that have done this such as Double Impact (1991) with Van Damme, or Multiplicity (1996) with Michael Keaton, and one I rewatched recently called Doppelganger (2003). But the story, setting and characters made me think of films like The Great Gatsby (2013) with Leonardo DiCaprio, and Public Enemies (2009) with Johnny Depp. Of course I remember Emily Browning from Sucker Punch (2011) and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004). The drama arc is rather very minimal. The music selection is very nice though, almost as if they tried to cram as much of the good oldies as they can every chance they can get within the two-hour film length. Kray Kray
Review by sinningsamBlockedParent2015-10-24T07:41:06Z
OMFG THIS MOVIE IS AMAZING. Sorry but I adored this film! Be aware: It is a biopic, do not go into this expecting something different. So yes, it has pacing issues and is a little long but that can't really be helped. But those issues are nothing compared to how slamming this movie is.
I've seen it twice already, it's been out in Australia for 2 weeks. In saying that I recommend a second viewing lets you pick up lots of little elements you may have missed the first time, subtle foreshadowing and commentary.
Now onto the important stuff! Tom Hardy is genius, actually genius. He said in an interview recently that he preferred playing Ronnie (the twin with glasses) and I am so happy he did because Ronnie was played spectacularly. He was by far the most interesting and complex character . Reggie was brilliant too however Ron's depth of character and surprising humor was flat out amazing. Emily Browning surprised me, I didn't hate her as much as I thought I would. In saying that I didn't really enjoy her character either. I believe her acting was a little to subtle as her character has a little flat. This is probably just me but Taron Egerton was great, I love the kid and he is going onto to do amazing work but in this film Mad Teddy was to die for. Hilarious and well-rounded. On the topic of Teddy he story line with Ronnie was very well handled. I was scared they would brush over it as is quite common and just stick to alluding. Whilst nothing was show I felt it received the same treatment as other story lines. That's my slightly confusing way of avoiding spoilers.
Had a great soundtrack and a beautiful screenplay. Seriously, just the construction of sentences and dialogue was perfection. As always for my favorite films I'll leave you a quote of this film, hopefully to entice you to watch it.
"It took a lot of love for me to hate him the way I do"