The Krays

The Krays is a foreboding, riveting metaphor about human monsters and the monstrosities of criminal life. It's one of the most original films of the year.

Gary and Martin Kemp, better known in pop music circles as Britain's Spandau Ballet, are superbly, diabolically creepy as the Krays. They give the film its otherworldly, yet street-smart and gritty, sense of being. [09 Nov 1990, p.7]

The Krays is one of the artiest, eeriest gangster movies ever made. [15 Sep 1990, p.14p]

Thematically, The Krays bites off more than it can chew: It's hungry for significance. But the horror of the twins' tale holds you in its clammy grip: it's a high-class creep show. [26 Nov 1990, p.80]

A generally absorbing, sometimes harrowing look at the violent rise of twin brothers named Kray to the top of the London underworld. [09 Nov 1990, p.3F]

Unable to strike enough fear in an audience, this brave foray nevertheless takes a hatchet to the notion that it had gone soft.

The Krays is painted with such broad strokes, and the characters are so full of hot air, that the movie sags in the middle, ending up a mildly entertaining mixture of psychobabble and rat-a-tat-tat. [09 Nov 1990, p.G10]