An attempt on a biography is indeed a perilous task. To take on a bio-pic indefinitely requires heightened attributes of courage and confidence. Veteran director Clint Eastwood takes on the life events of John Edgar Hoover and spins out in my opinion a rather compact and fathomable angle of the widely feared gentleman’s life.
The man himself is an iconic leader of the yesteryears. However this name would only be one that is familiar to the audience provided one is from a culture of similar geographical location. Eastwood is considering the fact that not everyone is as fluent of J.EDGAR as need be. This alone is one of the many reasons why I am rating this movie in one of the higher ranks. A biography made for everyone who is keen to learn the story.
John Edgar Hoover was a law graduate who began to serve his nation at the department of justice and thereon worked his way through to the higher ranks and was instilled as the 6th director of the Bureau of Investigations (BOI) of the United States of America. Mr. Hoover was tough man who saw a threat to the nation in almost everyone in almost everything thing they did; a man who would stop at nothing and would go to the furthest extent to protect the nation and its citizens. Mr. Hoover was one with a vision of centralizing a finger print file, a valued source of data that would aid in fighting crime and controlling discipline. Although his ideas were harshly put aside on many occasions his sheer perseverance found him instituting the finger print system and the forensic laboratories. 11 years down the road as director of the BOI Mr. Hoover founded the Federal Bureau of Investigation thus being the first director of the worldly popular FBI.
Leonardo DiCaprio who plays J.Edgar is a tyrant. DiCaprio has matured long since his early years and is undoubtedly living the role. DiCaprio seem to be taking every movie he does over the ropes. It’s disheartening that he didn’t get a nod at the Oscars for this exploding performance. His versatile acting of both the senior version of J.Edgar and the young adamant Edgar is spotless. The ferocity of the protagonist is uncanny. DiCaprio plays Edgar in a tone where it’s hard to place his characters mood which adds a subtle anxiety to the viewer. The rise and the fall of the great director of the FBI was lived by DiCaprio and was elegantly aided by Armie Hammer who plays his number 2 guy and soul mate; Clyde Tolson. Wide historical speculation states that Mr. Hoover and Mr.Tolson at the time may have had a relationship that reaches beyond the norms of the bureau, how DiCaprio and Hammer bring that to life is convincing enough that I am not surprised that we do not know up-to date that it was in fact true. A viewer can never be certain if they were in fact gay, just as none could state for sure back in the day. A lion’s share of the credit of the movie indeed deserves to focus on these gentlemen as they infuse its plot with a much needed essence of finesse.
Judi Dench on the other hand could be considered as some talent that did go to waste. J.Edgar needs a strong mother who has the grace to stay afloat like a swan on the lake. Judi Dench indeed was nothing other than that. I somewhat preferred if she did have more screen-time however writer Justin Lance Black seem to have felt it was more appropriate to give the larger slice of the screen cake to Naomi Watts. No harm done in that either since Watts is indeed a valued asset in Edgar’s team. The change in the way Watts played her character while switching in between the young and the older versions of Helen Gandy (Mr. Hoovers trusted secretary) is as great as Hammer and DiCaprio.
Despite some unconvincing makeup on the veteran portrayal of Clyde Tolson every-other aspect of the picture is passable to a normal mature audience. I can’t avoid the obvious. It’s harmless to assume that the scales of the movie can always tip towards either side since it’s a subjective arena. An audience with strong opinions on the life of Mr. Hoover and Mr.Tolson may disagree with a majority of this biography since it’s obvious that Clint Eastwood is focusing purely on the stronger attributes of the gentleman. Such an audience may indeed disagree with even the DiCaprio performance as being unconvincing. With due respect to the Late Mr. John Edgar Hoover it’s the only human approach as a director and as a writer to take the high road in making a biography.
J.Edgar is a powerful motion picture with astute performances by some great actors and actresses and it unveils the compressed biography on one of the strongest and hard willed men to run the BOI /FBI. Do keep the genre in mind prior to sitting down with a bowl of popcorn!
Title: J.Edgar
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts & Judie Dench
Rated: R
Rating: 7.5/10
137 Minutes