J. Edgar - Triple Play (Blu-ray + DVD + UV Copy) [2012] [Region Free]

…….by Leonardo Dicaprio…..based on true events, about this well known man in authority in the USA.Dame Judi Dench appears as his mother.Watching the film, the realization of acting the part of J. Edgar Hoover must have bern exhausting, the intensity.The Director must have had a clear vision, the screenwriting no mean feat, and cinematography authentic of the period.Not a jolly entertainment film, thought provoking, and historical.

Dull biopic that can’t elevate real life events into something engrossing. In the later parts, the two actors in outlandish prosthetics makes it seem cartoonish. Neither satisfying to crime genre fans or as a tragic story of repressed social problems. The fault isn’t with the acting, but all the slangy posturing and emoting. Somehow the film failed to rise to the occasion. It's bathed in a desaturated gloom of stygian proportions. Even the CGI parades of cars resemble old lithographs. You get the impression of a misguided attempt to exonerate Hoover because of his tortured repressions. That doesn’t quite free him of liability for other things not covered here. The whole of WW2 and the McCarthy era is skipped over, which robs the narrative of any credulity. Instead the focus is kept on presupposed bickering between Hoover and his deputy. Worse is that we learn next to nothing after this lengthy exploration. Dare I say this is film that hasn’t one moment of suspense. The only good thing out of all this is that Hoover got the film he deserved. Besides all that, it's an interesting attempt to make a film out of an impossible historic figure. And in that sense it isn't a failure, because much of the problem comes with the territory.

It was an OK film, seemed to gloss over or omit the COINTELPRO stuff in my opinion...

A ten part TV drama would really suit the material. Hoover did so much in his life that in a movie you need to skirt over large and often important events. In J Edgar, Clint Eastwood mainly focussed upon the Lindberg baby, and how the investigation helped to create a more scientific way of crime fighting. Di Caprio is excellent, and along with Matt Damon, is surely Hollywoods greatest current shining star.The make up effects for Di Caprio as the old Hoover are awesome- if you had never seen Di Caprio in your life you wouldn't recognise him. For the other characters, especially Tolson, it doesn't look as good and is very obvious.Though I like Clint Eastwood's movies, I think J Edgar would have been perfect material for Oliver Stone, made in the same way as Nixon and JFK- paranoid, jumpy, and conspiratorial. This film is slow, and though I enjoy a slow political drama, I doubt your average popcorn shoveller does.If you are intelligent and interested in American history I say buy it. If you are a popcorn shovelling guffawing whale, best leave it alone.

I avoided this movie for a long time as much as i enjoy Dicaprio and Eastwood's work the film's reviews were very low rated and i think it's very unfair as anyone who knows anything about J Edgar or watched this film knows the man was a bit of a unknowen at times anyway.J Edgar served as the head of the FBI for nearly 50 years including some questionable behind the scene details such as powerful secrets over serving president's during the film i had different thoughts on him i admired him and loathed some of his deeds to get the job done. I think anyone like me who never knew that much about this man will really enjoy this film as i did it has a really intresting tale into the history of this man. Leo Dicaprio is playing the man himself as usual is great and the support cast are very good judi dench. Armie Harmer, Josh Lucas and Naomi Watts do a good job.

I knew little about J. Edgar Hoover and was not sure what to expect from this movie but having watched it I was more than pleasantly surprised. It portrayed him in a very real way and displayed his character and all his flaws. It would appear that as the Director of the FBI he exerted more power over the people of the USA including 8 Presidents, than the Presidents themselves. As it says, knowledge is power and Hoover used this to exert the maximum amount of power and to always get what he wanted. He was a truly flawed and somewhat evil person who looked out for himself over all others and yet he still managed to bring in a number of innovative procedures which are still in use today. The actors and actresses in this film were outstanding. DeCaprio had it spot on and played the part of J. Edgar Brilliantly. Dame Judy Dench was outstanding, as always, in the role of Hoovers mother, and all the others parts were played well. The only slight criticism I have is that of the theatrical makeup wehn the actors moved into old age. Rather than looking old I felt most of them looked like their skin had cracked and they were going to fall apart. However, this did not detract from my enjoyment of the film, which I loved.

I'm not sure how Eastwood managed to make Hoover's life story boring, but this film is mostly dull, with a few exceptions. I recently read a non-fiction history of the FBI, 'Enemies' by Tim Weiner, which was far more entertaining - I'd recommend it if you want to know how Hoover really operated. I thought Naomi Watts did a good job as Hoover's secretary, and Josh Lucas was excellent in a minor role as Charles Lindbergh, but ultimately the film tried to cover too much of Hoover's life, and thus fell prey to some of the worst ageing make-up I've seen in a film - poor Armie Hammer looked like he was wearing a mask at the end.The framing device of having Hoover dictate his memoirs to a young man, worked quite well in tying together the dramatised episodes from his life, and pointed the fact that Hoover simply made things up if he felt it would boost his image. The parts of the film where Hoover is recalling his early career are very dark, as though shot on film stock of the period, but later scenes are better lit - this and the use of black and white is a nice conceit by Eastwood, even if it means that some of the action isn't very clear.