Entertainment
‘Legend’: Tom Hardy shines in a double role (Movie Review – ***1/2)
By Troy Ribeiro
Film: “Legend”; Cast: Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, David Thewlis, Christopher Eccleston, Chazz Palminteri, Paul Bettany, Colin Morgan; Director: Brian Helgeland; Rating: ***1/2
“Legend” is a true British gangster story based on the book, “The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins” by John Pearson.
A character driven film, it is the story of the Kray brothers; Reggie and Ronald, who terrorised London during the 1950s and 1960s and is shrewdly narrated by Frances Shea, wife of Reggie from beyond the grave. She provides a perfect intersecting viewpoint that gives an insight into their personal lives, as well as the devious deeds of the brothers.
The film follows the brothers in London’s East End during the period, where they ruthlessly ruled the underworld with an iron hand, running – night clubs, protection rackets and committing murders. They were the two most feared men in the East End and they thrived because, “East Londoners won’t talk to policemen, but will kiss a gangster.”
“Legend” is meticulously crafted by award winning writer-director Brian Helgeland. He gives the film a jarringly gritty brutality, with shocking graphic violence. The narrative is also aptly punctuated with numerous melodious songs that lend a romantic track to the brutal tale.
Included in the narration, are songs by artists such as; The Meters, Duffy, Georgie Fame, Rod Stewart, Burt Bacharach, Poncho Sanchez, The Rockin’ Berries, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, The Righteous Brothers and more.
Some of the numbers with lyrics like, “Oh I cried last night” standout in the narration.
While the story is interesting, the film suffers from a sluggish second act, derived from the causality structure of the plot.
On the directorial front, the film is presented in a highly stylized manner. Dick Pope, the director of photography, provides a pretty retro sheen to the effort aided by real East End locations and some stellar production design by Tom Conroy, period costumes from costume designer Caroline Harris and excellent performances by the cast.
Tom Hardy gives an incredible dual skilful performance as Reggie and Ronnie. He is magnificent as he does an impressive turn, making the two brothers seem intense and completely different. As Reggie, he is intelligent, charming and suave and as Ronnie he is short tempered, openly gay and totally psychotic.
He is ably supported by Emily Browning as Frances Shea, Reggie’s love interest. With a flawless East End accent, she displays a strong character who later crumbles. She delivers this sensitive role convincingly.
The others who leave a mark are Colin Morgan as Frances’s older brother and Reggie’s personal driver, Tara Fitzgerald as Elsie Shea- Frances’s mother, David Thewlis as the Kray’s account man and Taron Egerton as Ronald’s toy boy Teddy Smith.
Composer Carter Burwell’s background score is brilliant and so is Peter McNulty’s editing.
“Legend” is good film, but falls short of being a classic.
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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