Ensofter
Overrated and overhyped
Kaydan Christian
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Cheryl
A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
classicsoncall
The DVD sleeve for "The Rise of the Krays" touts it as 'The Best British Gangster Film Ever Made', but that's a serious overstatement. Guy Ritchie did a much better job with "Snatch" and "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels". Those were fictional stories of course, but this one based on the real life Kray Brothers isn't nearly as compelling, and I was actually more enthralled by looking up a Wikipedia account of the brothers who ran an East London crime gang back in the Fifties and Sixties.The film features it's share of bloody violence as befits the subject material, though it's usually Ronnie Kray (Simon Cotton) who doles out the punishment as opposed to more self controlled brother Reggie (Kevin Leslie). The brothers eventually come to blows when Reggie prefers to make nice with fellow Italian and Maltese mobsters by carving up sections of London each gang could control, rather than waste huge amounts of money and lives fighting each other. By this time, Ronnie is so paranoid and schizophrenic that his criminal life is interrupted by a stay at a mental asylum.Without realizing there's a follow up film titled "The Fall of the Krays", I thought the picture did a disservice to it's viewers by not explaining what eventually happened with the Kray Brothers. The picture simply ends with Ronnie pondering his fate as lord and master of the London underworld. I imagine the sequel delves into their eventual arrest by the relentless detective, inspector Nipper Read (Danny Midwinter), but considering the way this was put together, I don't feel that compelled to bother with it. Of my current list of gangster films I've watched and reviewed here on IMDb, this one comes in number #75 out of 76 movies based on IMDb ranking order as I write this. That seems pretty lame for the best British gangster film ever made.
connormacleod84
coming from someone from hackney, i can state the krays did a lot for charity, as well as kept the streets safe. they also took a lot of people off the streets and gave them homes and jobs. so to of clamed they spent 2.5 million on this is insulting. the guys cant act. everything looks fake, and its very out of touch on how they came across and behaved. they deserved a lot better than this mockery of a film. even rise of the foot soldier looked better than this, and he was just a common chav that every town has. i give it 0 out of 10 for insulting the brothers who cleaned up hackney when no one could before or after. even my nan used to say it was the only time you could ever walk the streets at night without worryed about getting robbed.
Alfred Smith
This is another attempt at the story of the Kray twins who terrorised London's East End starting in the early 1960s. UK resident will know of the Kray twins as they had quite a reputation. Their portrayal in this movie is laughable. They come across as misunderstood, well meaning brats which they certainly weren't. As far as pure entertainment goes the movie is a first class clanger. The story of the Krays has been done before and was a considerably better effort than this latest version. Obviously made on a tight budget and full of historical inaccuracies, it is dull and at most times, embarrassing and painful to watch. I humbly suggest that you do yourself a huge favour, steer clear of this dud and wait for the release of "Legend" with Tom Hardy which I imagine will be infinitely better.
mkapromotions
if you forget its a film about the Krays then it isn't bad, as a biopic of the twins growing up unfortunately it is terrible, acting wise anyway, stories not to tuff and it is to jumpy like the 90's kray film, as viewers we want to know things we didn't know about that period in time about the twins or how the events went down, i know we have to wait for the fall of the Krays for this, but personally i was disappointed in the movie. Cant wait for legend hopefully they don't jump around the time scene and stick certain points that are relevant for Kray fans, i don't understand why it classes itself as the "best British gangster movie" its OK but far from the best.Rise of the foot soldier is 80 times better personal opinion, and Legend will be even better than this!!
