Film

The Krays

Name: The Krays
Genre: Drama, Crime, History
Released: 1990
Cast: Gary Kemp, Martin Kemp, Billie Whitelaw, Tom Bell, Susan Fleetwood

The Krays tells the rise and fall of East London's most notorious twin gangsters through the prism of their domineering mother. It's a grimy, violent portrait of ambition and entanglement, where family loyalty becomes the trap that snares them. Compelling and brutal, it's for anyone drawn to British crime stories and the psychology of brothers bound by blood and crime.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a grounded, unglamorous gangster story where the menace comes from a family dynamic as much as from the violence, told with a close eye on the East End club scene.

Skip it if you want crime films fast and lean, since this lingers over family scenes and sits uncomfortably long with its brutality.

What it asks of you: Settling in for its 119 minutes means slow rhythms, long scenes of talk and tension, and violence arriving in sudden, uncomfortable bursts rather than as set pieces.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Once Upon a Time in America1984

A sprawling meditation on friendship, loyalty and the gangster life, told through memory and regret. Like The Krays, it's less interested in heist plotting than in how crime corrupts the bonds between men.

But It's nearly four hours long and moves at its own glacial, meandering pace. Some find it gorgeous and hypnotic; others find it exhausting.

In the Name of the Father1993

An unsparing film about the Guildford Four, wrongly imprisoned for IRA bombings. It shares The Krays' interest in how institutional power grinds down innocence, and how family is both shield and weapon.

But The Irish politics may be unfamiliar territory, and it's heavy in ways that don't lighten up. Not a comfortable watch.

GoodFellas1990

Scorsese's kinetic masterpiece about rise, fall and the intoxication of power. Like The Krays, it's seductive about crime while never pretending it ends anywhere good. A perfect companion piece from the same year.

But The violence is frequent and graphic, and the pace is relentless. If you want a thinking man's crime film, this is thrilling; if you want quiet, look elsewhere.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Krays

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Mona Lisa Smile2003

Both centre on a pair of outsiders navigating criminal hierarchies through force of personality and charm; both are ultimately about the isolation that success in that world creates.

A film about power, identity and the performance of masculinity told through the story of a hustler and a blind gangster in 1980s London. Like The Krays, it's interested in how men construct their identities through violence and charisma, but it does so through loneliness and alienation rather than family.

But It's slow and atmospheric rather than propulsive, and some will find it pretentious. The gangster plot is secondary to mood, which may frustrate those wanting a tighter narrative.

Sexy Beast2001

Ben Kingsley gives a volcanic performance as a violent crime boss who disrupts a retired criminal's peace. Like The Krays, it's about how violence becomes a language, and how it destroys the things it's meant to protect.

But It's deliberately stylised and jarring, with long stretches of strange stillness before outbursts. The tone is unsettling and won't resolve neatly.

My Name Is Joe1998

Ken Loach's unflinching film about a recovering alcoholic in Glasgow drawn back into crime by circumstance and loyalty. It shares The Krays' interest in how working-class men become trapped by their own nature and their communities.

But It's bleak and sometimes slow, with no cathartic payoff. Loach doesn't soften poverty or addiction, which makes it harder to watch.

The Long Good Friday1980

Bob Hoskins is electrifying as a London crime boss whose Easter weekend spirals into chaos. Taut, clever, and gorgeously shot, it captures the same world as The Krays with a thriller's momentum.

But It was re-cut and re-released; some prints are incomplete. And if you're not invested in '80s London crime politics, the third act can feel opaque.

Romper Stomper1992

A brutal Australian film about skinhead brothers drawn into violence. Like The Krays, it excavates the psychology of brothers bonded by aggression, and how charisma in service of violence becomes corrupting.

But It's visceral and ugly by design, with almost no one to root for. The language is rough and the violence isn't stylised; it just happens.

In Hell2003

Jean-Claude Van Damme in a surprisingly serious film about a man imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, navigating prison hierarchies and revenge. Raw and strange, it shares The Krays' interest in how institutions dehumanise.

But Van Damme's casting promises action; the film is mostly slow and punishing. It's genuinely difficult, and some will find it boring rather than powerful.

The Gentlemen2020

Guy Ritchie's zippy ensemble crime film about London drug lords and the men circling them. It's lighter in tone than The Krays but shares its fascination with how criminal empires are built on personality and ruthlessness.

But It's slick and sometimes clever, but it sometimes mistakes style for substance. The multiple storylines can feel like they're doing the heavy lifting instead of character.

Looking for Richard1996

Both are about the seduction of power and the psychology of men who believe themselves exceptional. Both show how charisma becomes a trap, and how brothers (literal or spiritual) are destroyed by ambition rather than external forces.

Al Pacino directing and starring in a documentary-essay about rehearsing and performing Shakespeare's Richard III. It mirrors The Krays' interest in how ambition, ego and ruthlessness corrupt brotherhood, but approaches it through art rather than crime, and through the actor's own bewilderment.

But It's formally strange—part rehearsal footage, part philosophical rambling, part Shakespeare. If you want narrative clarity, this will frustrate you. It's an essay, not a story.

Bronco Billy1980

Both examine how men bond through shared identity and performance, and how loyalty becomes the thing worth dying for. But where The Krays shows that loyalty ultimately fails when founded on violence, Bronco Billy suggests it might survive if founded on something kinder.

Clint Eastwood directs and stars in a small, weird Western about a drifter who joins a traveling wild-west show. It's about loyalty, found family, and how men construct meaning through spectacle—the same emotional core as The Krays, but inverted: here, the violence is theatrical and the bonds are genuine.

But It's slight and eccentric, and doesn't feel like it's driving toward anything grand. Some will find it charmingly modest; others will find it pointless.