Film

The Rise of the Krays

The Rise of the Krays traces the violent ascent of London's most notorious twin gangsters from teenage boxers to ruthless crime lords. Shot with scrappy energy and told through a survivor's perspective, it's a low-budget British crime film that prioritises raw brutality over glamour. For viewers hungry for gritty underworld stories without the polish of prestige television.

TMDb rating2.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you are drawn to character-driven crime films that dwell on the swagger and menace of ambition, more than on heists or plot mechanics.

Skip it if you want a tidy, fast-moving plot or a clear moral frame, since it stays close to the squalor and has little interest in making its characters likeable.

What it asks of you: Roughly one hundred and ten minutes, it takes its time over dim, smoky scenes and expects you to stay with its shifting loyalties without much spelling out.

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

If you liked this

Sexy Beast2001

Ben Kingsley's terrifying crime boss arrives in a sunlit paradise and destroys it. Visceral, darkly funny, and proof that villainy doesn't need exposition—just presence and menace.

But Deliberately slow-burn and surreal; the narrative meanders as much as it propels. Some will find it pretentious rather than profound.

Sexy Beast poster

In Bruges2008

Two hitmen hide in a medieval city after a job goes catastrophically wrong. Blackly funny, brutally human, and concerned with whether violent men can feel remorse.

But The tonal shifts between comedy and genuine tragedy can feel jarring. Some scenes lean heavily on indie whimsy.

In Bruges poster

The Gentlemen2020

Guy Ritchie's London crime caper about drug lords, corrupt cops, and Chinese gangsters. Stylish, propulsive, and genuinely entertaining without pretending to be important.

But It's deliberately surface-level—all plot and swagger, zero moral weight. If you want substance, look elsewhere.

The Gentlemen poster

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

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Krays1990

The same subjects, but told with studio backing and a traditional three-act structure. Rise of the Krays is the scrappier, more honest version—the film that treats the myth-making itself as the story.

The official Kray twins biopic with Gary and Martin Kemp, shot with 1960s gloss and narrative momentum. It's the document, the thing people actually know.

But Glossy to the point of romanticising—the film is almost seduced by their mythology. The violence is theatrical rather than raw.

The Krays poster
More like this (8)

GoodFellas1990

Scorsese's masterclass in how crime feels from the inside: the rush, the paranoia, the camaraderie, the slow moral collapse. Ray Liotta's narration makes you complicit.

But Nearly three and a half hours, and some of the middle section drags. The violence is sudden and graphic in ways that can feel gratuitous.

GoodFellas poster

Layer Cake2004

Daniel Craig as a London drug dealer trying to exit the game. Clever, stylishly shot, and genuinely tense—a smart crime film that respects your intelligence.

But Complex plotting can feel convoluted. The characters are so morally hollow that it's hard to care who survives.

Layer Cake poster

Trainspotting1996

Edinburgh's heroin scene through the eyes of addicts and small-time criminals. Kinetic, funny, and horrifying—Danny Boyle at peak invention.

But The violence is shocking and casual. The accents require concentration. It's a film that punishes passivity; you have to keep up.

Trainspotting poster

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels1998

Guy Ritchie's debut about London's interconnected underworld—card games, loan sharks, and very stupid criminals. Fast, clever, and wildly entertaining.

But The overlapping narratives feel show-offy now. It prioritises style and jokes over character depth or emotional truth.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels poster

Bronson2009

Tom Hardy as Britain's most violent prisoner, a man who fights because fighting is who he is. Savage, surreal, hypnotic. An actor disappearing into pure aggression.

But It's repetitive by design—violence, chaos, repeat. There's no redemption arc, no learning, just escalation. Some will find it numbing.

Bronson poster

A Prophet2009

A young North African man enters a French prison and rises to power through intelligence and ruthlessness. Gripping, morally complex, and beautifully shot.

But Subtitled, and the prison politics require attention. It's bleak and slow-burning rather than action-driven.

A Prophet poster

Once Upon a Time in America1984

Both follow the rise of criminals from their hungry youth, but Leone is concerned with myth and memory while Rise of the Krays stays with the visceral present. Different eras, different questions about why we worship violence.

Sergio Leone's gangster epic tracks a crew from youth through old age, told in fragments. Elegiac, mournful, and visually overwhelming—crime as tragedy and romance.

But Four hours long, deliberately paced, and the fractured timeline demands patience. It moves like a requiem, not a thriller.

Once Upon a Time in America poster

The Killing of a Sacred Deer2017

Both explore violence as a force that cannot be reasoned with, but Lanthimos abstracts it into Greek tragedy while the Krays film keeps it grounded in postwar London. One is about how crime corrupts; the other is about how fate closes in.

A surgeon's comfortable life collapses when a boy begins a methodical revenge. Yorgos Lanthimos creates unbearable tension through politeness and stasis—dread instead of action.

But Deliberately artificial dialogue and pacing. It's a moral punishment disguised as a thriller—you spend two hours waiting for doom.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer poster

People

Cast

Directing

Writing

Production

Recommended by

The Firm