By Peter Smith and Bilal Mazhar — February 8, 2012 | ONLINE ONLY

Release: 20th January 2012
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio

Clint Eastwood’s ‘J Edgar’ is a portrayal of ruthlessness, loyalty and irony. John Edgar Hoover was the founder of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and ruled with an iron fist for almost 40 years, eventually becoming an infamous US national symbol of justice and enforcement. He was a man in personal turmoil and, while having potentially damaging information on his bosses, was ironically terrified of his own such information being publicised.

Script writer, Dustin Lance Black’s portrayal of Hoover is one of a man succumbed to his mother and repressive of his sexuality. The conflict within Hoover’s portrayed persona of attempting to simultaneously please his mother and obtain personal happiness in his relationship with the FBI’s second in command and close personal friend, Clyde Tolson, sets up a screenplay which promises a personal battle of emotion against a backdrop of a quest to become USA’s most powerful man. Much like the Iron Lady, Eastwood jumps cyclically from Hoover’s burst to prominence in US polity in the 1930′s to the final years of his long reign in the 1960s.

The eponymous character is played from beginning to end by Golden Globe winner Leonardo DiCaprio. DiCaprio seems to play the role with a lack of flare, and gives a laboured portrayal of a man difficult to master. This is mainly down to the neutral, stale and ultimately unconvincing portrayal of one of America’s most reticent political animals. This neutral reserved stance stems from the weak approach in defining Hoover’s character in the film Eastwood jumps from J Edgar’s conflict with his latent homosexuality to his ruthless, dogged, and corrupt quest for power. While Eastwood brings to the fore the characteristics most associated with Hoover he never scratches beyond the surface. This in turn gives reason to DiCaprio’s unconvincing and subdued performance.

Furthermore, while the movie shows the audience the ideas and acts which made Hoover so famous, ranging from his belief in forensic fingerprinting to his strong efforts in defeating communist rebel groups within the USA, the film never brings forth the sly genius which made Hoover a man so feared within the heart of America’s political establishment. What’s worse is that his life defining ideals are undermined by the unsavoury and seemingly ridiculous portrayal of his cross dressing catharsis in his mother’s (portrayed by Judi Dench) clothes.

However veering away from the satisfactory portrayal of Hoover, Naomi Watts portraying Hoover’s loyal, unrelenting press secretary Helen Gandi, in conjunction with Armie Hammer, who delivers a brilliant representation of Tolson give more credence to the film. Tolson’s portrayal is one of a likable, suave and yet tricky and naive loyal deputy in chief. Rather unfortunately Hammer, while portraying Tolson in his old age, is let down by the distasteful and somewhat exaggerated work done by the make up team. In conclusion the film never moved gears, instead succumbing to being stuck in the middle of two themes, which were never fully grappled, thus the viewer leaves the film without any new or profound understanding of a man in the middle of the USA’s most transformative years.