Movie Review-J. Edgar

So starts Oscar season, and while some sure fire contenders (Moneyball, The Tree of Life) have already been released, J Edgar marks the unofficial start as we will begin getting contenders released each and every week. I should make it known to start I had the highest of expectations for everything Clint Eastwood touched until recently, his "Invictus" was average, and "Hereafter" was just poor. So my expectations have lowered a bit as it appears Eastwood is indeed human. However the same moderate expectations cannot be placed on Leonardo DiCaprio, who is on a Tom Hanks like run of movies with Gangs of New York, Catch Me if you Can, The Aviator, The Departed, Revolutionary Road, Blood Diamond, Shutter Island, and Inception being his most recent 8 movies. The Aviator wasn't great but he was terrific in it and the rest of that list consists of both great movies and great performances by DiCaprio. J Edgar tells the life story of the man who put the FBI on the map, and Leonardo DiCaprio knocks it out of the park, his voice and mannerisms are replicas of the notorious Hoover. The film goes over his entire life and touches on the more....questioned aspects of that life with respect and class. Eastwood does a great job of editing between the elder Hoover and the younger Hoover. In addition Eastwood touches on all the talking points of Hoover's career, from his dislike for Martin Luther King Jr to the Kennedy assassination to the Lindbergh baby kidnapping to the beginning of fingerprinting and forensics. The film gets good supporting performances from Naomi Watts, Judi Dench, Josh Lucas as Charles Lindbergh, and Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) as Robert Kennedy. DiCaprio will surely gain deserved Oscar consideration for his role, and from my perspective he is the clear front runner for best actor at this moment (most contenders have not been released yet). However, as good as DiCaprio is, the best performance in the film belongs to Armie Hammer (Winklevoss twins in The Social Network) who plays Hoover's long time partner and more, Clyde Tolson. It will take a great performance to unseat him as Best Supporting Actor in my opinion. The only problem that I had with J Edgar is that is not the most exciting movie in the world if you are not a history fan, while Eastwood keeps the dialogue fast and interesting, there are lulls and the film probably could have been trimmed from its 2 hour and 15 minute running time. J Edgar gets 7 Ninja Stars out of 10.

J Edgar is directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Dustin Lance Black, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Donovan, Josh Lucas, Geoff Stultz, Ed Westwick, and Dermot Mulroney.

-Maximus