Rating of
2/4
Big disappointment
Jase - wrote on 01/19/12
Dustin Lance Black and Clint Eastwood took what should have been a fascinating story and mangled it into a completely uninteresting movie. In short, it left out so much that should've been on screen and focused on the more boring details. And, while I'm not someone who needs a movie to be linear to enjoy it, J. Edgar is sort of ridiculous. It jumps around far too much and throws too many things at you. There's a voiceover to provide some clarity, but it does little to rectify the problem. Telling the story in a simpler way would've been a better decision, I think.
The lighting is also an issue. I understand the desire to create a dark atmosphere for such a paranoid, depressing character, but it was taken a bit far. You can barely see what's going on in some scenes because the lighting's so dim. I think Eastwood was taking a risk by trying to make the movie more dramatic, perhaps more artistic. Taking such risks should be encouraged; it's just that, in my opinion, it failed miserably here.
Having said all that, Leonardo DiCaprio couldn't have done a better job. It was a great performance that no one else could have given. It's unfortunate that the rest of the film didn't live up to it.
