The Krays (1990) review

This birth-to-prison biopic of twin hooligans Ronnie and Reggie Kray (musicians Gary Kemp and Martin Kemp, of Spandau Ballet fame) starts with them coming out of the womb, growing up in poor living conditions with their dear mum Violet (Billie Whitelaw) and her friends, getting booted out of the military, becoming gangsters who run nightclubs, Reg marries Frances (Kate Hardie) while Ron has a male lover ... and then their "empire" fizzles out (too many stabbings, I gather).  The actual story of the twins has taken on larger-than-life proportions in the media and the mind of the public, but the presentation is sorely lacking, with the overbearing stylistic choices by Medak, the obnoxious score by Michael Kamen and the periodically abysmal overacting (Hardie is a major offender).  The screenplay by Philip Ridley is preoccupied with their sexuality (neither of them were exactly heterosexual) and odious symbolism (the crocodile, the deformed fetus, the snake statue) and seems to reduce them to small-time thugs with dreams of criminal grandeur, and there's the insinuation that being primarily brought up by an overprotective matriarch was the primary cause of their psychopathy.  Let me ask you: if a neurotic boy was raised by a former Marine (and war veteran) and a hawk-like mother, what becomes of him?  I'll tell you: he watches a lot of movies.  I know this much is true.