Martin Kemp

In The Krays (1990), Martin Kemp makes Reggie credible as a member of this family, even when he struggles to make him frightening. He gives the part enough weight that the pairing with Gary Kemp's Ronald does not depend simply on the sight of two brothers playing twins. We recommend the film with reservations, and much of its value lies in their ability to make the domestic scenes persuasive. Martin does not need to outdo his co-star to justify his place in the film.

The move from Spandau Ballet's bassist to screen criminal might look like an abrupt change, but The Krays was a return to acting after his television work as a child. The film was followed by work in Los Angeles, including Embrace of the Vampire (1995), before EastEnders gave him Steve Owen from 1998 to 2002. That part established him as a charismatic television villain. His frequent casting as tough men is understandable; we are less interested in the reputation than in what a particular role asks him to do.

Peter Medak's The Krays asks most usefully for a believable closeness between its criminals. Gary is the stronger lead, making Ronald's primness and savagery coexist, while Martin's presence keeps Reggie from seeming incidental to the pairing. Billie Whitelaw gives the family scenes an authority the more openly threatening material cannot consistently match. We were unsettled by those scenes because the Kemps make the family's closeness credible rather than an amusing gangster eccentricity.

The limitation is that the threats do not always frighten us, and we sometimes find ourselves studying the Kemps when we ought to recoil. The repetitive crime story bears some responsibility, but neither central performance entirely solves the problem. The danger of casting Kemp only for toughness is that it asks for the quality this performance delivers least reliably. Choose The Krays for its family scenes; expect a less certain evening when it gets down to criminal business.