The Rise of the Krays (2015)

I can't believe this film is getting such low reviews, I think this and the Fall are cracking films. I have watched most of the Kray films and these are some of, if not the best.I enjoyed watching the Tom Hardy film, but I have to say I thought these were better.Both the actors who played the twins put in a great performance and through both films you got to know and feel for the characters, also the guy who played Dickie.I would highly recommend both of these films.

Having watched both the Kemp brothers film and Tom Hardy's brilliant recent portrayal of the Twins I hadn't much hope for this film; and I was right to. Where to start?! Firstly, the actors bare no resemblance to the Krays in anyway (a fault of whoever cast them) but moreover the actors seemingly don't even attempt to impersonate their voices or mannerisms. Secondly, it's historically inaccurate to the point of hilarity. The relationship between the two brothers is all wrong- totally ignoring the fluctuation in power roles the two played throughout their lives. It makes no mention of both the brother's homosexuality apart from in passing, a major aspect of their lives, especially Ron's. The part where David Litvinoff is cut from ear to ear by Ron wasn't done by either of the Kray's in real life, although they did beat him up, it was another villain that inflicted the above on Litvinoff. How the creators of this film made the life story of two of the most notorious villains so boring I'll never know, that's an achievement in itself. To add insult to injury the financial backers of this film then have the temerity to leave 10/10 reviews on this site.Do yourself a favour and don't watch this, instead go out and buy John Pearson's "The Cult of Violence" if you actually want an insight into the Krays.

it's always been surprising to me that there was only one movie based on the infamous kray twins, and while peter medak's 1990 biopic was for it's time a solid movie, when you read and watch things about the krays you realise just how much they left out, and it didn't really portray the twins as they was at all, never the less that movie remains much loved and has a deserved cult classic status, but i always wanted another film about the krays, one that showed the twins how i always read they were, brutal, uncompromising, charming, dangerous all rolled into one pair of naughty twins, and while the likes of the Essex boys have movie after movie made about them, we had to wait twenty five years for another krays film, and then boom, we get two at the same time, now this movie coming out at the same time as the big budget tom hardy biopic 'legend' is both a gift and a curse for the rise of the krays, a gift in that 'legend' has made the krays relevant again, and a curse in that this movie will be over shadowed by its big budget counterpart, now as for the better movie i can't judge yet as I've only seen this one, legend is out in a few days, so ill judge then. the sad part of the fact is that this movie was in the works before 'legend' in fact i knew about this movie in early 2013. never mind all that though because the movie i have just watched is brilliant enough to stand on it's own two feet. the first part in an epic two part crime saga, tells the story of the kray twins from youths to men, as they take control and rule the London underworld, and the twins are finally shown on screen to be the brutal men they truly were, and trust me this movie is brutal, the violence here is shocking, and makes the old krays film look like a kids film. the movie is narrated by Reggie kray, and he holds the movie together great. another brilliant thing the movie gets right is seeing Ronnie krays mental illness, Ronnie kray is played here with such menace and authority you cannot take your eyes of him. both Reggie and Ronnie are brilliantly played here, and i cannot wait for the second part of this epic, one of the best British gangster films in years, and much better than the old krays film.

There is an older version of this movie starring the Kemp brothers. At least they looked alike. These two actors bore no resemblance to each other. This is a cheap movie, badly acted, not true to the story and it jumps about all over the place. There is no chronological order to the Krays growing up and developing their psychopathic behaviour. The movie was a hard watch due to the poor character development. What we have here is a very loose film based around the twins with lots of violence. The twins mother was hugely influential on the boys but we don't see her. The drunken, wife beating and child beating father also doesn't get a mention. Save yourself 2 hours and read a book or go into the garden.Hopeless.