By Andrew Marini ’13
THE ROUNDUP

“J. Edgar” – Starring: Leonardo Dicaprio & Naomi Watts

6.5 out of 10

From the second I saw that “J. Edgar” was a Clint Eastwood film I instantly had thoughts of “Gran Torino,” “Invictus” and “Flags of our Fathers” swirling through my head; all fantastic, well-made movies.

However, Eastwood disappointed by taking a great movie idea about a relatively unknown American figure and churning out a somewhat run-of-the-mill final product.

Don’t get me wrong, the movie was enjoyable enough, and I believe Leonardo Dicaprio will be nominated for an Oscar in his performance of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. It just seems like it could have been far more impressive.

The story already loses a large audience because it is in some ways a historical biography, which isn’t all that exciting.

But if you have some interest in the subject of history and decide to pay the money to see it, you should enjoy it for the most part.

Dicaprio was outstanding in portraying the many types of Hoover’s personalities. He also recreated the fast and somewhat unclear speech impediment Hoover had.

None of the other actors were anything worth mentioning, which certainly took away from Dicaprio’s performance and made him do most of the work.

One letdown was that most of the movie spends time going into the history of the FBI and Hoover’s personal life more so than his professional life.

Many people know Hoover was an extremely powerful man, and that he had a chokehold on many of the presidents that served when he was in office. However the movie leaves out much of this content, leaving viewers wondering why the film didn’t show his darker side as much as it needed to.

Instead we saw constant choppy fading between time periods.

The movie was long and seemed to drag out towards the end. It seemed as though I was waiting for it to end at some points rather than enjoying it.

 “J. Edgar” is only average ranked since it had so much potential. If done correctly, this easily could have won best movie at the Oscars.

By Andrew Marini ’13
THE ROUNDUP
“J. Edgar” – Starring: Leonardo Dicaprio & Naomi Watts
6.5 out of 10
From the second I saw that “J. Edgar” was a Clint Eastwood film I instantly had thoughts of “Gran Torino,” “Invictus” and “Flags of our Fathers” swirling through my head; all fantastic, well-made movies.
However, Eastwood disappointed by taking a great movie idea about a relatively unknown American figure and churning out a somewhat run-of-the-mill final product.
Don’t get me wrong, the movie was enjoyable enough, and I believe Leonardo Dicaprio will be nominated for an Oscar in his performance of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. It just seems like it could have been far more impressive.
The story already loses a large audience because it is in some ways a historical biography, which isn’t all that exciting.
But if you have some interest in the subject of history and decide to pay the money to see it, you should enjoy it for the most part.
Dicaprio was outstanding in portraying the many types of Hoover’s personalities. He also recreated the fast and somewhat unclear speech impediment Hoover had.
None of the other actors were anything worth mentioning, which certainly took away from Dicaprio’s performance and made him do most of the work.
One letdown was that most of the movie spends time going into the history of the FBI and Hoover’s personal life more so than his professional life.
Many people know Hoover was an extremely powerful man, and that he had a chokehold on many of the presidents that served when he was in office. However the movie leaves out much of this content, leaving viewers wondering why the film didn’t show his darker side as much as it needed to.
Instead we saw constant choppy fading between time periods.
The movie was long and seemed to drag out towards the end. It seemed as though I was waiting for it to end at some points rather than enjoying it.
“J. Edgar” is only average ranked since it had so much potential. If done correctly, this easily could have won best movie at the Oscars.