The Fall of the Krays (2016)

People are voting emotionally.

Memorable, crazy movie

Good concept, poorly executed.

An Exercise In Nonsense

Very poor movie , both acting and story are very amateur , but when it is vying with tom hardy and the kemp brothers performances it really has to be a little special and sadly its not

The Krays, 1960's London, the implosion of Ronald, Reginald and company. So what could go wrong with such a platform to build and craft a wealth of scenes? It would appear much. The Rise of the Krays (albeit lacking in substance) had the ability to keep the viewer (at least) wondering where the next scene might come from. Sadly, The Fall of the Krays comes with no such hook to grab the attention. The acting is mediocre at best. In fact the only consistent character is Frances' Mum played by Clare McGlinn. There seems to be an ongoing and unnecessary need for the actors to try and portray the twins like like they were Phil and Grant Mitchel. Overreacting, overacting and not at all believable; the company they keep much the same. If you're after a quick hit of good old-fashioned violence, mockney accents and loads of shouting after a few pints down the pub, this one's for you. If you want a little more then give Legend a go with Tom Hardy. It's more believable in half the time. If you want to watch a film about the Krays with the Mrs and you're a newby then give the Kemp boys a whirl. Not the best.

This movie,back to back with the first half of their story(The Rise Of The Krays) immediately makes it clear that 2 hours is not enough to tell the story of the UK ganglands' most (in)famous sons.It dares to tread new ground previously avoided in The Krays(1990) and Legend(2015),exploring the stories of the messy business of the disappearance of Frank'The Mad Axeman'Mitchell and 'Mad'Teddy Smith.Clearly having Mad in your nickname was a dangerous situation if you were an associate of the Krays.The storyline itself is well presented,albeit with an obviously low budget which,in this telling,actually works quite well,giving this dark period in British history the gritty feel that Legend put too much of a sheen on.In some places though,the acting is cringeworthy.George Cornell delivers the legendary line,"You fat poof",with all the menace of a sulky teenager,and the fact that the actor playing him is carrying a few extra pounds,while the target of his jibe doesn't have an ounce of fat out of place,had this viewer laughing at the exchange,and half-expecting Ron to jibe back"Well,you're fatter than me,George!".That said,the actor playing Cornell certainly looked like the real person.Frankie Fraser has also mutated from a small,slightly built cockney wideboy into a hulking,imposing thug.Jack McVitie also seems to have been reinvented as Jack the occasional hat,as he is more often seen sans his trademark trilby hat,and despite a rather cheesy delivery in the shotgun scene,the actor playing Jack delivers an engaging performance,with the merest hint of comedy during his opening scene.Kevin Leslie as Reg is largely a support character to Simon Cottons' Ron,and while they have been criticised for not looking alike,I don't think thats too much of a factor.The Kemps didn't look alike either and they ARE brothers.Ron sometimes comes across as a pantomime baddie,with Reg as a brow-beaten subordinate,but many reports suggest that isn't too far from the truth.Leslies performance is just a little too likable for a legendary gangster.He just doesn't have the sinister air about him.And once again,older brother Charlie seems to have been stricken from the Kray family history.I don't think this movie is what you could class as 'enjoyable',given the subject matter,but,arguably,it can definitely be labelled as interesting.What it doesn't do is paint them as the legendary heroes that history so often seems to do these days.It is definitely different from the 1990 movie,which I believe was made long before it should have been,with the Sheas becoming the Lawsons,the Richardsons becoming the Pelhams,the Lambrianous becoming the Ripleys, Jimmy'Cannonball'Lee getting drunk,and Cornell and Jack the Hat being murdered on the same night.And of course it differs widely from the big-budget 'Legend',which,while being peppered with some hilarious scenes,albeit unintentionally funny in places,is also peppered with falsehoods,errors,and blatant lies in places.and Ron Kray seemingly turned into Eric Morecambe for inspiration.There are many reasons not to like FOTK.Probably more than there are to like it,but if you forgive the odd ropey acting turn,and you have a curiosity to see various legendary events from the Twins career finally being played out,then this movie is for you.If,however,you know nothing about them,and have no desire to,then maybe Legend would suit you more.As a movie,Legend beats ROTK and FOTK hands down.But as a biopic this 2-parter wins out.

GANGLAND/GANGSTER MEMORABILIA MOVIE REVIEW - FALL OF THE KRAYS (2016) Director: Zackary Adler This is the sequel to The Rise Of The Krays. Having secured their empire and their infamy, the brothers must now fight to keep hold of both as the obsession of one police officer becomes entwined with a burgeoning romance and a dangerous state of mind for Reggie and Ronnie respectively.Cast: George Webster, Simon Cotton, Adrian Bouchet, Kevin Leslie, Josh Myers GGM says: For those of you that didn't like the first movie then you are going to be in for a BIG shock with this movie...because the sequel is GOOD - in fact its VERY good indeed. The story obviously carries on from the first and focuses on the really juicy parts of the Kray story - the Cornell and McVitie murders, the breakout and subsequent murder of Frank Mitchell, and the disappearance of "Mad" Teddy Smith - and to be honest they do it in the way that we all hoped for - something that Tom Hardys "Legend" failed to do miserably.As the title suggests, this movie goes into when things started going wrong for the twins - which is when it starts to get more interesting for the movie-goer. Reg (Kevin Leslie) has a much bigger part in this movie and as the film builds up to Frances suicide (which is done with dignity and in good taste), we begin to see Reg spiral down into the depths that ultimately became his undoing. The actor does a good job showing the full range of Regs dark moods and violent outbursts - a far stronger performance by Kevin Leslie this time.Whilst still the lead role, Simon Cotton (Ron), has much less screen time this time out, In the first movie, I felt he was guilty of overacting at times but he plays the part much better here - more controlled. In addition, the character "Dickie Baker" has a significant role in the movie. I think I wrongly assumed in the first movie that Dickie was Dickie Hart (the Krays cousin).but it now appears that Dickie is actually "Albert Donaghue" as his story matches Alberts and reveals his relationship with Lisa Prescott - the hostess brought in for Frank "The Mad Axeman" Mitchell.Throughout, the movie has some instantly recognisable scenes and uses authentic phrases that we all believe were said by the twins, right down to the immortal "Be a man Jack..." - "I'll be a man but I don't want to die like one".The film is an accurate portrayal of John Pearsons "Profession Of Violence" and refreshingly include references to all the "unsavioury" parts of the twins lives that the original Kray film was unable to, or were too scared to mention - things like Rons sex parties, Regs inability to make love to Frances, and the twins corrupt dealings with Boothby and Driberg.Overall, FOTK is a whole lot better than the the first movie and in my opinion, is far more accurate and watchable than Legend. FOTK is the Kray movie we have all hoped for. The fact that the only dodgy bit about the film is Kevin Leslies hair dye is a credit to just how good a movie it is. Put aside the fact that the movie costs a hefty £9.99 to be downloaded from Sky, this is a really good film that all Kray fans will enjoy watching.All credit to the producers, directors, actors and everybody involved. They have made the movie that Hollywood could'nt. At last, a worthy successor to the original and my favourite out of all four Kray movies.GGM RATING: * * * * * * * * (8/10)