New to DVD: 'J. Edgar' 'Tower Heist' 'Borgia: Faith and Fear' and 'Underdog: Complete Collector's Edition'
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Leonardo DiCaprio stars in "J. Edgar."
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"J. Edgar" covers the nearly half-century that J. Edgar Hoover ran the FBI and then some, fueling his reputation as the person "who wielded more power, longer, than any man in American history," as a New York Times columnist once said.
Leonardo DiCaprio, snubbed for the Oscar nomination, pulls off the portrayal, thanks to a change in the style, color and texture of his hair, along with makeup that ages him from his 20s to 77.
Under the helm of director Clint Eastwood, the movie uses a stilted device as one of its underpinnings. Hoover, portrayed as a young, a middle-age and an age-spotted older man, recounts the history of the FBI and his role in it to a procession of young agents seated at a manual typewriter in his office.
The weak link is the screenplay by writer Dustin Lance Black, an Oscar winner for his original script for "Milk." The story also moves back and forth to his relationships with his overly protective mother (Judi Dench), his loyal-to-a-fault secretary (Naomi Watts) and, of course, his second-in-command Clyde Tolson and Hoover's rumored paramour (Armie Hammer).
What the film does well is show how Hoover's sheer devotion built the FBI into a crime-fighting powerhouse, with agents finally allowed to carry weapons, assemble a national collection of fingerprints and have sophisticated experts and labs at their disposal. On the flip side was Hoover's hoarding of secret files he used to try to force the hands of American presidents or perceived enemies.
Its ambitious story goes from the appearance of communists in America after World War I to the White House days of Richard Nixon, the eighth president he served. Along the way are snapshots from noteworthy cases such as the capture of outlaw John Dillinger and the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby.
Even with a running time of 137 minutes, "J. Edgar" seems to just skim the surface of a complicated man whose real story likely will never be known.
The Blu-ray comes with the 18-minute featurette "The Most Powerful Man in the World," which finds the director and others speaking about his legacy. A shortened version appears on the DVD.
First Published February 23, 2012 12:00 am
