Film Review Of J. Edgar

Movie: J Edgar

Review: A-

The after effect of Eastwoods painstakingly researched biopic is two sided, leaving us feeling both aquainted with J. Edgar Hoover and almost fully in the dark about who he truly was. In a sense, we get to know the man as well as...well....almost everyone who ever knew him. Eastwood plays out Dustin Lance Black's thorough and lengthy script with an edge that we've seen before in the raw visage of Gran Turino and the anti-outlaw tao of Unforgiven. He reigns in the heavy dialogue with wonderfully grand camera angles, often panning up from the floor or swooping down upon the characters as if eavesdropping.

Played with an almost eerie diligence by Dicaprio, Hoover is not an easy pill to swallow. There's a beast within the man caged by fragile bars, a desire to save his country while also reaping the benefits of his celebrity. This almost sickening obsession is both painful and surreal to see. He's not an exceptionally mean spirited man or, by any means, a "good guy". It's almost as if the jury can never come to a verdict on the true nature of Hoover. He's as revered by inside men as he is polarized in text books and think tank discussions.

This is a film that, by default, has way too much ground to cover. That Eastwood and Dicaprio pull it off with very few hiccups (save for that obvious old man makeup) is something of a miracle. The people in Hoovers private circle are covered thoroughly and quite honestly it seems. His autocratic mother, played with defiant grace by Judy Dench, is the devil in his ear. Her influence leans heavy on his opinion of himself. His closest confidant, Clyde Tolson, portrayed by the excellent Armie Hammer, may or may not be his homosexual lover. The film brilliantly dances around this possibillity, allowing that Tolson was game and Hoover played ignorant. It's fascinating tabloid fodder at the very least.

What ends up coming across in J. Edgar is that ruthless men, for better or worse, rise to the top and get things done. You can say what you will about the man, but he consumed the FBI for the near entirety of his life. A defining scene comes near the end. After Hoover has died, Richard Nixons immediiate reaction is chilling....."Get into his office. I want those fucking files".