J Edgar Review: Reputation Explored

J. Edgar Hoover may have had a bad reputation, but this movie's rep should be better.  J.Edgar, directed by Clint Eastwood, is about the first director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, and his accomplishments and scandals.  Leonardo DiCaprio stars as the title character, while Armie Hammer co-stars as Hoovers alleged lover, Clyde Tolson.

First of all, which should not even need to be said, is Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Edgar.  As with all of his other roles, Leo shines.  Leo plays him with such power in his later years, and with cowardliness and confusion in his early years.  I almost believed his lies, just because of the way he would say them, even if they lies were obviously false.  I can say, without question, that Leonardo DiCaprio is my favorite actor.   Armie Hammer, who gained renown by playing the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network, stands his own against DiCaprio, although because of technical reasons which will be talked about later, he is not as great in the older years.

One thing that I was hoping for, but was not present, was a mystery on J. Edgar Hoovers sexuality.  I had hoped the movie would leave it open for the viewer to the decide what they thought, but Eastwood makes it pretty obvious what his opinion is.

Sometimes during the scenes with an older J. Edgar, I would sometimes think they were not needed.  At first they said nothing about the character of J. Edgar.  However, as the movie progressed, I saw the importance of them, and they contrasted well with the younger scenes.  Once you knew more about the younger Hoover, you could then see why the he was older, and why the scenes were necessary.  I will warn that some people may be turned away by the switching narrative, as there is never much of a transition between the two periods.

One thing that bothered me, was the way Armie Hammer looked elderly.  His make-up looked like it was poorly done, and his face never showed any emotion because of it.  DiCaprio's looked fine, so I do not understand why they couldn't have done a better job with Hammers'.

J. Edgar may be just another biopic, but still, it’s a good one.  As always, the person playing the subject gives a great performance, and the dual narrative helps give an in-depth look on J. Edgar Hoover.   There may have been a lot of negativity toward the film from other critics, but take it from me, J. Edgar is worth your time.