I wasn’t initially planning on reviewing this film. But I don’t understand why the response to this film is so poor. The film has a Rotten Tomatoes score of only 41% which doesn’t do the film justice. With so many people talking shit about this film, I decided to spread some good word about it. Don’t dismiss this film as one of the several outings of Al Capone in media; this film is much more than that. Directed and written by Josh Trank, this film follows Capone in the final year of his life. Not the most exciting period of his life, right? The film packs enough material to make you think otherwise. It’s not a crime film and nowhere near a mob film if you were expecting that. Trank’s commitment to the film needs to be praised as he probably knew this was going to be an unusual choice.
This film examines the mental paranoia of the titular character as his physical and psychological health worsens. The film focuses on Capone reflecting upon his life, his identity and his legacy. Think of it as an extended version of the last segment of The Irishman. Tom Hardy plays an ageing (and dying) Capone in a very polarising method. The first half of the film, you’ll find yourself laughing whenever he pops up on the screen, and you’ll wonder if you’re supposed to laugh, or the film is just that terrible. But that’s what makes this film so unique. With every passing second, his mental health deteriorates even more, and his paranoia completely takes over him, some of the scenes take place entirely in his head. The most brilliant sequence of the film also takes place in his head, and it’s one of the most intense and breathtaking scenes I’ve seen all year (can’t reveal details cus no spoilers). Tom Hardy is brilliant, and he goes to some depths I’ve never seen him reach. Hardy’s performance has been subject to some criticism, and people have complained that he reduced one of the most feared gangsters of all time to a laughing stock, they surely must have fallen asleep by the second act. Hardy is nothing but phenomenal; I’ll end it here.
There were so many ways Trank could’ve written this film, and some of them would have been more commercially feasible. But he stuck to his vision and made the film he wanted to. Despite the presence of so many negative reviews, I think this is one of the best crime films of 2020. It’s arguable if you’d even call this a crime film, and that’s one of the many reasons this film is so splendid. If anything this film is guilty of being a psychological drama when everyone was expecting a crime thriller. Forget whatever you know about Al Capone and see this film as the story of a fictional character with a criminal past instead: you’ll instantly realise the genius of this film.
Rating: 4 / 5
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