J. Edgar
2011 Directed by Clint Eastwood
Synopsis
The Most Powerful Man in the World
As the face of law enforcement in America for almost 50 years, J. Edgar Hoover was feared and admired, reviled and revered. But behind closed doors, he held secrets that would have destroyed his image, his career and his life
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J. Edgar Hoover is a fascinating figure in history. An egotistical tyrant, determined, pioneering and still an enigma. Clint Eastwood’s stately biopic is a film more interested in providing a potted history of his life rather than truly getting under the skin of one of the most powerful men in America. The film uses a framing device where the aged and ailing Hoover is recounting his life to a young agent, it allows the film to flash back and forth in time and it also provides the film with a highly subjective voice that neatly skirts around Hoover’s complicated personal life or his less savoury acts in his professional capacity as the head of the FBI. It’s a decidedly old…
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DVD: I should have seen this one on the big screen. I would love to see a print of this. Most of Clint's films should have been at least nominated for Best Cinematography. This film is no exception.
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I'm not American. I don't really know much about J Edgar Hoover, just the odd bit of general knowledge or trivia, so I was quite interested to see this film, if only to learn a bit more about this character that has always sounded quite interesting to me.
In that respect, it delivered. Sure it was pretty dry and had that familiar Clint Eastwood direction, but I enjoyed it. I found it fascinating at times, thought the performances were entertaining and the plot engaging.
The main criticism I have is that although it wasn't too long, it certainly felt like a 2 hour long film. It definitely did not have a quick pace to it. Bit of a case of…
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While watching J. Edgar, I kept thinking about Leo's other big bio-pic, "The Aviator". The two feature similar eccentric, ambitious men who were possessed by their controlling mothers while their quirks began to possess them.
The difference between the two is J. Edgar does pretty much everything poorly, while The Aviator does most of it right. Hughes's mother is seen in one scene, played twice, and captures her presence of him. Hoover's mother is often present, and through clumsy dialogue asserts her control.
The Aviator shows a man whose ambitions consume him. J. Edgar glosses over Hoover's struggles to form his FBI and shows him as an earnest, ambitious man with a few manageable ticks.
The Aviator captures the man…
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☠ "No one freely shares power in Washington, D.C." ☠
☑ Leonardo DiCaprio
☑ Armie Hammer (Arm and Hammer, anyone?)
☑ Clint Eastwood directing
☑ American historyThis is was going to be watched with my undivided attention. No exceptions. J. Edgar obviously is about him founding the FBI, but the question as I started to watch was how will J. Edgar Hoover be portrayed? Sure enough, Hoover is portrayed as a very, very unethical man with some questionable characteristics pertaining to his lifestyle (at the time mind you). Clint Eastwood literally draws out the worst things about Hoover and promotes the ugliest rumors (while proof of such rumors has been taken to the grave with Hoover and his closer companions).
If you are a fan of the acting behemoth known as DiCaprio, that gives you a great reason to watch this. Clint's directing streak has been solid as well. J. Edgar is not to be missed.
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Directing a film about J. Edgar Hoover was always going to be a difficult task. Summarising such an important figure's life in only 137 minutes isn't truly possible. A miniseries would have been far more appropriate. Leonardo DiCaprio is once again in pretty good form and Clint Eastwood's directing is decent despite the impossibility of making a film about Hoover. For what it is, J. Edgar is an interesting film which covers some of the most important events and investigations in Hoover's career.
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Directing a film about J. Edgar Hoover was always going to be a difficult task. Summarising such an important figure's life in only 137 minutes isn't truly possible. A miniseries would have been far more appropriate. Leonardo DiCaprio is once again in pretty good form and Clint Eastwood's directing is decent despite the impossibility of making a film about Hoover. For what it is, J. Edgar is an interesting film which covers some of the most important events and investigations in Hoover's career.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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I read a J. Edgar Hoover biography last year and I was looking forward to seeing this. I wasn't disappointed.
A tyrant and a visionary at the same time, Hoover outlasted several presidents and was one of the most influencial figures in behind the scenes politics. Clint Eastwood is a superb director, and Leonardo di Caprio is equally superb in the leading role. I enjoyed seeing many familiar faces, each person doing their best in their roles.
The story was familiar to me, since I had read a book about his life, but I can see why some people found it a bit distracting. Juggling the time frame served a purpose, underlining how things were then and how they are…
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There are two fundamental problems with J. EDGAR:
1) If you don't already have a working knowledge of Hoover and 20th Century American history (which, fortunately, I do) it's very easy to get lost.
2) I couldn't get past the incredibly distracting prosthetic "old people" make-up. -
J. Edgar (Hoover), played by Leonardo di Caprio, shows a nice insight of FBI's most famous director. Everybody knows this name and how come? The film certainly does not give an answer to this question and is shot in a typical Clint Eastwood way. A bit on this slow sight, lots of drama but no real click to what the story is about.
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Quite dark and not as exciting as one would expect, but still amazingly filmed and DiCaprio is supurb in this Biopic. I guess I wanted more, but I dont really know why, but sometimes you hear so much about a charachter what you get does let you down somewhat. I would not say steer away from the film, but it is not riveting or that engaging at all.
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Had 1 problem: it was too long.
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Auch top Hauptdarsteller, brillianter Regisseur und gutes Drehbuch retten den Film nicht für mich. Eine überdramatisierte rührseelige Story über J.E. Hoovers unglückliches Leben interessiert mich einfach nicht... *gähn*
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Uma bela descrição do criador do FBI. Tirano, determinado e obcecado,. Eu não sabia que ele era homossexual.