Jason KingJ. EDGAR: A Review
January 24th 2012 06:33
:
DiCaprio is amazing as always
Category: Reviews
J. Edgar explores the public and private life of one of the most powerful, controversial and enigmatic figures of the 20th century. As the face of law enforcement in America for almost fifty years, J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) was feared and admired, reviled and revered. But behind closed doors, he held secrets that would have destroyed his image, his career and his life.
This film tells the story of J. Edgar (as you probably gathered from the title
) and I hardly knew about J.Edgar, I knew he created the FBI and was in his position for a very long time but that was about it and it appears that Clint Eastwood, the director, wants to tell us everything about it - and visually the film is impressive and it carries Eastwood's attention to detail and ability to have incredibly long dialogue scenes that would sit well on a stage.
He chose DiCaprio to play this powerful figure and I was quite surprised to see DiCaprio as the older Hoover - something he would have relished to do in the hope of gaining that long overdue Oscar but unfortunately this is not the film that will do it - it is so long and over winded and honestly, a puff piece on Hoover.
It feels like Eastwood was too careful and unable to form an opinion on the character and follow it but instead lightly touch on everything that is listed on Wikipedia. The thing nearly put me to sleep, it just goes on and on and on and lightly touches on all the important things but pays them little of the credit they were due. I was loving the Lindbergh story line and would have loved to have seen a film about that story and how this led to so much power eventually being given to the FBI. It wasn't even until the very end that I found out he survived 8 Presidents.
And the rumours of being gay and the cross dressing were so right wing politically correctly told I felt cheated.
As for DiCaprio he again proves to me why he is the best actor on the planet handling nuances and mannerisms with ease. And surprisingly Armie Hammer was just as good as DiCaprio - he was so strong as the life partner and supporter of Hoover and his looks stole the camera on nearly every scene - my god that man can carry a suit.
What I was let down by was the use of the rest of the supporting cast - Naomi Watts was perfect in the role but after touching on a possible relationship at the start of the film she fades into the background and if you have Dame Judi Dench in a film you damn well use that woman - she is gold - her part was small but powerful and her comments on having a gay son were like being stabbed in the chest. She was a powerful mother Mrs Hoover But I fail to see how she told Hoover as a young child he "will rise to become the most powerful man in the country" - I mean - who was his father?
The film is visually good with superb acting but with a meandering story that has no clear path besides everything that happens in this man's life trying to be stuffed into 2 and a bit hours. I honestly think it's Eastwood's worst directing effort and a huge letdown. Out on Australia Day and worth 5 out of 10.
This film tells the story of J. Edgar (as you probably gathered from the title
) and I hardly knew about J.Edgar, I knew he created the FBI and was in his position for a very long time but that was about it and it appears that Clint Eastwood, the director, wants to tell us everything about it - and visually the film is impressive and it carries Eastwood's attention to detail and ability to have incredibly long dialogue scenes that would sit well on a stage.
He chose DiCaprio to play this powerful figure and I was quite surprised to see DiCaprio as the older Hoover - something he would have relished to do in the hope of gaining that long overdue Oscar but unfortunately this is not the film that will do it - it is so long and over winded and honestly, a puff piece on Hoover.
It feels like Eastwood was too careful and unable to form an opinion on the character and follow it but instead lightly touch on everything that is listed on Wikipedia. The thing nearly put me to sleep, it just goes on and on and on and lightly touches on all the important things but pays them little of the credit they were due. I was loving the Lindbergh story line and would have loved to have seen a film about that story and how this led to so much power eventually being given to the FBI. It wasn't even until the very end that I found out he survived 8 Presidents.
And the rumours of being gay and the cross dressing were so right wing politically correctly told I felt cheated.
As for DiCaprio he again proves to me why he is the best actor on the planet handling nuances and mannerisms with ease. And surprisingly Armie Hammer was just as good as DiCaprio - he was so strong as the life partner and supporter of Hoover and his looks stole the camera on nearly every scene - my god that man can carry a suit.
What I was let down by was the use of the rest of the supporting cast - Naomi Watts was perfect in the role but after touching on a possible relationship at the start of the film she fades into the background and if you have Dame Judi Dench in a film you damn well use that woman - she is gold - her part was small but powerful and her comments on having a gay son were like being stabbed in the chest. She was a powerful mother Mrs Hoover
But I fail to see how she told Hoover as a young child he "will rise to become the most powerful man in the country" - I mean - who was his father?
The film is visually good with superb acting but with a meandering story that has no clear path besides everything that happens in this man's life trying to be stuffed into 2 and a bit hours. I honestly think it's Eastwood's worst directing effort and a huge letdown. Out on Australia Day and worth 5 out of 10.
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