Gary Kemp

In The Krays (1990), Gary Kemp makes Ronald's primness credible without softening his savagery. We believe that both belong to this man, which is harder than simply making him threatening. His is the stronger of the two central performances, with Martin Kemp's Reggie providing enough presence to keep the pairing convincing. Peter Medak's film makes good use of the brothers together, without relying on the novelty of their casting.

Billie Whitelaw's mothering makes the family scenes more disturbing, and gives the Kemps something substantial to respond to. We were unsettled by those scenes because the brothers make the family's closeness believable rather than merely a peculiar gangster habit. The trouble comes when the film expects their threats to frighten us: too often we are studying them instead of recoiling. The crime story repeats itself, and Gary cannot solve that problem through force of performance. We recommend the film for its domestic scenes, with that reservation.

Kemp returned to acting with The Krays after his years as Spandau Ballet's guitarist and principal songwriter. His breakthrough adult role was followed by early Hollywood work, including Sy Spector in The Bodyguard (1992) and Oliver in Killing Zoe (1993). Supporting screen roles subsequently sat alongside sustained theatre work, including Serge in Art (2001) and Teddy in Jamie Lloyd's Pinter revival The Homecoming (2015). Those credits matter here because treating Kemp simply as a musician who tried acting misses how much of his acting has happened away from a film set.

He has expressed a preference for theatre, citing rehearsal, structure and the audience as things it shares with performing in a band. We need not mistake occasional screen appearances for a lack of commitment to acting. Ronald gives us reason to be interested when he does turn up, without assuming that menace will come automatically. Start with The Krays, but do not spend the scenes with Whitelaw waiting for the next threat.