Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

J. Edgar
2011
**½
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Josh Lucas, Judi Dench, Ed Westwick, Dermot Mulroney, Damon Herriman, Jeffrey Donovan

J. Edgar Hoover served as the Director of FBI from 1924 to 1972 under eight different Presidents. He transformed the Bureau into a powerful and effective tool against domestic threats, but turned himself into a feared and loathed figure by keeping secret files on anyone who could pose a risk to his position. Although Clint Eastwood's biopic doesn't attempt to cover Hoover's entire life and career, it delivers a disappointingly baggy and shapeless drama, which fails to delve beyond the surface. As with his Oscar winning screenplay for Milk, Dustin Lance Black takes a controversial real-life character and concentrates almost solely on the myth at the expense of the man. With Hoover this is easier, because he has no personal life. The film portrays him as a paranoid control freak and closeted homosexual who has two meaningful relationships: with his overbearing mother and with his co-worker and possible lover Clyde Tolson. Leonardo Di Caprio gives an impressive if somewhat mannered titular performance.