LEGEND - Directed by Brian Helgeland

In the past few weeks I have been making a much bigger effort to watch more films, in order to expand my knowledge in screen acting and generally gain a bit more of an umbrella of knowledge revolving around film.
This post is generally a minor fangirly ramble about the AMAZING and complex acting of Tom Hardy. The film tells the true story of the Kray twins, the notorious gangsters of 1960's London. Despite the fact that the two are twins, they have extremely different apparition. Reggie the main protagonist in the film is quite the cheeky chappy, with an intimidating edge, yet Ronnie, his double only in looks, is not sound of mind, often appearing extremely serious yet unknowingly comical, and very brash and out of control in his anger.  The two characters are extremely different, and Tom Hardy plays them BOTH too well for my liking.
I think the reason this stands out as a creditable performance, is not just the fact that he acted two characters well, but the sheer physical embodiment and physical difference between the two. When playing Ronnie, Hardy speaks through his nose, holding so much more tension in his face and jaw, that it is hard to believe he is the same person when playing the relaxed and smooth speaking Reggie. The deep and murmury voice of Ronnie is of stark contrast to the lighter higher voice of his twin. Everything down to the quirks and ticks of each character was so real, that I didn't actually believe it was the same person playing the roles. It is the professional vocal work and sheer embodiment of Hardy into the roles that is the difference between  having drama school training and not.