Who else but Tom Hardy could play both the Kray twins in Legend, this moderately scripted story of the East End gangsters. Except there was very little sign of gangsterism. The film instead concentrated on relationships, particularly between Reggie and Frances Shea who becomes his wife. Ronnie is the more interesting and dangerous character who perpetrates the grimmest violence. A missed opportunity.
The biggest surprise in Miss You Already was that it was set in London and not America. So we were straight into Richard Curtis territory in this story about female friendship. This time we had a decent script from Morwenna Banks who has developed it from her radio play Goodbye. And, I guess, with some help from director Catherine Hardwicke who manages to make it an intelligent and moving movie. Both lead actresses Toni Collette and Drew Barrymore are good, the former deserving praise for an in depth performance as the stricken Milly.
Well the trailer looked great. Unfortunately even Michael Fassbender could not save this movie. He was actually partly to blame, mumbling most of his lines. Marion Cotillard is equally shaky on speaking the verse and seems lost in her shortened role. Far too fragile. I was not surprised that the closing credits showed three scriptwriters who had "based" the screenplay on the original text that was probably cut by half. We get lots of fighting and running at the expense of the story. One of the best characters in Shakespeare, the porter, is entirely absent. The casting is also strange. littered as it is with every Scottish actor imaginable. David Hayman in a monstrous beard, I don't think so. Whoever chose the squeaky voice of Sean Harris as Macduff should give up. However, the scenery was magnificent but when it upstages the acting, something is very wrong.
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