A workable biopic of FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, featuring strong direction from Clint Eastwood and a good leading performance from the dependable Leonardo DiCaprio. J. EDGAR isn't my favourite of Eastwood's movies because it does feel very slow and stately and it lacks the kind of depth present in some of his other films. However, it's much better than the overrated MILLION DOLLAR BABY, and about on par with THE CHANGELING.

The film is told in flashback for the most part, and given Hoover's lengthy career, there's plenty of material to cover. We get involved in kidnappings, political wranglings, the Kennedy family, plus Hoover's own private relationships with his secretary, friend, and mother. J. EDGAR isn't a showy film at all, as it remains subtle and subdued throughout, and the actors in support like Naomi Watts barely register on the viewer's attention.

While I didn't have the problems with the quality of the make-up that other reviewers on here did, I do take issues with the darker-than-dark cinematography. Eastwood seems to be going out of his way to make the whole thing as dark and gloomy as possible, which I always find makes for a faintly depressing movie. What happened to films being filled with sun and colour?

J. Edgar tells the story of the man and his agency. J. Edgar Hoover for better or worse shaped the history of the last century as few others have. He was a pioneer in the field of law enforcement a reformer who made the Federal Bureau of Investigation free from political corruption, gave it modern crime fighting methods, and near deity status among the masses. I've always maintained that had Hoover just retired at the end of World War II his historical reputation would be much higher today. But as he points out in this film no one shares power in Washington, DC and few ever give it up willingly.

All this and at the same time being a frightened man, way deep in his closet's closet as a gay man. Most gay folk will tell you now even in this post Stonewall age the hardest part of coming out is to family. In Hoover's case it was his mother played here by Judy Dench who was an imperious Southern bred lady who tells Leonardo DiCaprio as Hoover that above all she does not want to have a 'daffodil' for a son. The gay in him is pretty much repressed until he meets Clyde Tolson who becomes Deputy Director and Hoover's silent partner for decades.

In real life Tolson who is played here by Armie Hammer was something of a stabilizing influence on the real Hoover, many times talking to him or even subtly countermanding moves that would be public relations disasters for the image conscious Hoover. In his life few knew of his role in the agency and fewer in Hoover's personal life.

The other key player in Hoover's life is Naomi Watts as personal secretary Helen Gandy who was that for almost his entire time with the FBI. He tries clumsily to get a romance going, but settles for her just being the woman who kept the secrets for the man who held all the nation's secrets.

Director Clint Eastwood who will make fewer and fewer appearances in front of the camera at his age gets some great performances from his cast in a story that takes up the middle of the American 20th Century. Leonardo DiCaprio is so good you absolutely think you are looking at Hoover himself. Helping in that is one of the greatest body and facial makeup jobs the cinema has ever witnessed.

Henry Kissinger once said of Richard Nixon that he was a brilliant man who might have not fallen or even done the things he did good and bad if he ever felt loved. That could easily have been J. Edgar's story as well. One wonders also if Hoover had been born three or for generations later to see the Stonewall Rebellion in his youth how that might have shaped him as well.

J. Edgar is one remarkable film from the remarkable team of Eastwood and DiCaprio.

J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an old man in his office trying to put his life on paper. He begins in 1919 when police procedures are haphazard and Bolsheviks try several bombings. It's long climb to the top of the FBI as he takes on radicals, gangsters, and everybody in between.

Director Clint Eastwood is very straight forward with this biopic. Leonardo DiCaprio does a reasonable job, but I'm always certain that this is Leo. It's especially true as an old Hoover with the obvious makeup. He never truly loses himself in the role. Maybe Eastwood's approach is too traditional and lack real feelings. It never digs too deeply into his inner self. The movie shows what he did but I never get a sense of his soul. It's very hard to get a feel for the character. It's solid workmanship filmmaking. It's cold. It's prodding. Leo does a solid mimicry job. The movie cares more about his organizational skills but I want to feel something about him.