Review of J. Edgar (2011) by Stuart K — 23 Apr 2012

Clint Eastwood shows no sign of stopping or slowing down in his old age, especially here as he take on the life and times of the most controversial American who ever lived. No matter how you did it, it was always going to be a difficult film to adapt, but Eastwood does his best and he uses his brand of unfussy, unflashy direction to good effect with this old fashioned biopic.

This follows the life of J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio), from 1919 until 1972, showing how he was asked to run the Bureau of Investigation set up by the Justice Department, later to become the FBI.

He employs lawyer Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer) as his trusted assistant, who sticks by Hoover until his death, his secretary Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) is loyal and faithful to Hoover, despite many of his unorthodox decisions.

It shows how Hoover handled the arrests of the public enemies of the Great Depression like John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson, the ill-fated kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby and the aftermath, as well as the fact that Hoover kept his own collection of files on high ranking politicians, even presidents who ran the country at the time, making Hoover untouchable.

It's a focused biopic that has it's flaws, but Hoover wasn't a perfect man, so why should the story of his life be perfect?? DiCaprio does wonders as the man of contradictions, a man who poked around in other people's lives, but kept his life very private, but the show is stolen whenever Judi Dench appears as Hoover's Mum, who never minces her words and thinks the world of her son.