The Fall of the Krays ***½ (2015, Simon Cotton, Kevin Leslie, James Weber Brown, Josh Myers) – Movie Review

Taut, tense and well-made, director Zackary Adler’s welcome and essential sequel to his The Rise of the Krays is a lean, mean, spare, non-glamourised London crime thriller. It’s grittier and less of a show than Legend (2015).

Reprising their roles from the original, Simon Cotton and Kevin Leslie are convincing in outstanding performances as Ronnie and Reggie, and so is James Weber Brown as Leslie, the copper on the case. These are not actors’ turns but true performances.

Simon Cotton plays Ronnie Kray.

Ron and Reg are of course the twin brother London East End gangsters who started as teenage boxers and rose to being two of the most feared and infamous criminals in Britain, but here Ken Brown and Sebastian Brown show the flipside of their shocking career with their demise and downfall, managing a tragic element to the saga. The story is again is told by Reg’s close friend Frankie Fraser (Josh Myers).

Kevin Leslie plays Reggie Kray.

Adler handles it with very considerable skill and determination. Even if you feel you’ve seen the story before, Adler makes you riveted to see it again, telling it straight and what feels like roughly true.

The story is also told in The Krays (1990) with the Kemp brothers and Legend (2015) with Tom Hardy.

An independent British film, The Rise of the Krays premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2015.

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© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 3157

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