Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Dame Judi Dench
A strident anti-communist, J. Edgar Hoover (DiCaprio) made
history as the head of the FBI during the Great Depression, still only at a
young age. Under his leadership, the FBI made huge gains in fighting communism
and crime in the US during this period; however in his personal life J. Edgar
is troubled by his troubled working relationship with whomever was President as
well as his possible homosexuality.
It’s a difficult thing to make a historical epic centred
around one man, played by one actor and if anyone could seem to be able to
direct such a film, it would be Clint Eastwood. This isn’t the first time that
Eastwood has made films detailing this period of American history and his
directorial reputation for delivering strong films, on time and on (if not,
under) budget is a great one. However, he doesn’t quite make the cut with J.
Edgar. Leonardo DiCaprio is a fine actor who gives a fine performance, but it
feels like just that. A performance. You see a man playing J. Edgar Hoover and
never feel like you’re seeing the real man. Physically, he invites comparisons
(albeit inferior ones) to Orson Welles in Citizen Kane (1941) but he isn’t
wholly convincing, nor is Armie Hammer; looking rather odd in his appearances
as a much older man. The film does at least look like a Clint Eastwood film and
statys true to his style. The story is still somewhat engaging and intriguing
whilst the details of Hoover’s personal life such as his possible homosexuality
and his rumoured life as a cross-dresser are handled fairly sensitively. J.
Edgar isn’t a bad film, but given just a little more skill in the makeup and
more accurate casting, it could’ve been greatly improved.
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