Not bad entertainment but not good enough for a classic. Some people have mentioned that the Krays gave their approval to the script. This was a bad thing. Now they are both dead. The Kray story should be done again, probably on TV as a mini series of about 6 hours to give the whole thing justice. We could then include more details of their life of crime, their arrests and trial. The Kemp brothers do not look alike at all but the Krays also looked different as they got older. Martin Kemp would pass for Reggie if he was a bit stockier but Gary Kemp is nothing like Big Ronnie. The overall impression of the film was that they were the leaders of a gang of teddy boys rather than the biggest gangsters in London. If the story is retold we need better casting for the twins and they need not necessarily be brothers.

The Krays tells the story of the notorious London East End gangsters Ronnie (Gary Kemp) & Reggie Kray (Martin Kemp) from their humble upbringing to the top of post-war London gangland with some seriously nasty antics. They ruled through fear, intimidation & sadistic brutally until they were convicted of murder & sentenced to life...

This English production was directed by Peter Medak & I have to confess I didn't think too much of it, what it comes down to is whether you can enjoy a film that lasts for two hours populated with seriously unlikable people. Personally I can't to any great degree. The script by Philip Ridley is rather slow going, it's half an hour before the grown up twins appear & even then the Krays criminal activity isn't actually given that much screen time or emphasis. This is a biopic that tries to get into the psyche's of the Krays, the fact that they were nothing more than thugs & mommies boys seems to be the overriding message here. I am not old enough to remember them first time around & I only know what I have read & been told but I was surprised to learn that Ronnie was gay & that he was the truly psychotic one. The Krays just isn't a very likable or enjoyable film, it's unrelentingly depressing with sadistic gangland violence, suicide, death & poverty stricken misery. Does that really sound like an enjoyable escapist film? I also feel large chunks of the Krays lives have been ignored, their trial & sentencing is one such omission as is their initial rise up the criminal underworld ladder.

Like other comments on the IMDb have mentioned I am uneasy with the Krays getting their own film & almost being glamorised as 'honourable' villains to look up to or aspire to. They were vicious scum who hurt, killed & intimidated a lot of people for their own selfish ends. I'm sorry but I don't really want to see a film where they come across as sympathetic or fair as it's not true, they were scumbag villains who seemingly took great pleasure in hurting people & enjoyed living off the dubious rewards. The line 'If people are afraid of you, you can do anything' sums up their mentality as callous self serving scum who should have hanged. One thing I noticed watching this is that it was sometimes difficult to tell the two twins apart since the Kemp brothers are identical & as I started to lose interest in the film it became more of a problem.

Technically the film is alright, it's not exactly brimming with style & director Medak keeps his camera fairly static in a standard point-and-shoot policy. Filmed on location out in London the period production design is strangely bland & very forgettable, then again I suppose that's how it looked back then. Those watching The Krays expecting bags of violence had better forget it, there's the infamous sword slash moment as Ronnie slices a guy's lips open, the same sword gets stuck through someones hand, there's some fights & little else. The acting is alright but I didn't think anyone was brilliant, I thought the Kemp twins (maybe better known as 80's pop band Spandau Ballet?) were actually quite wooden at times.

The Krays is a film based on true events (although how true it is is anyone's guess, I mean the people featured were hardly upstanding trustworthy pillars of the community were they?) & as such is a rather bland viewing experience. Large eras from the Krays life are ignored & overall I just couldn't enjoy it as a film or what it was trying to do.