Capone

Filmmaker Josh Trank's big screen career when looking at the 2 big screen features he made on paper may not seem like much but the impact on his status is a bigger story. His first film that was made on a small budget, Chronicle (2011), was such a success that it opened many doors for him to projects that he was slated to direct. He was labeled by the media as the next possible Steven Spielberg of his generation from that work. Suddenly 20th Century Fox hired him for the project that was the most infamous mark not only on his resume but also in Hollywood history: Fantastic Four (2015) (aka Fant4stic). The behind the scenes debacle that occurred due to a combination of Josh's mindset on a property he wasn't fond of, his disagreements with more experienced professionals on a big budget film, the stress affecting his behavior unprofessionally, and the studios interference resulted in an awful product. This impacted his career options with his loss on working on projects he was previously signed on to direct, including Star Wars. This brings us to his attempted comeback from that disaster, Capone, which Trank directed, wrote, and edited. This was another lower budget independent project for the filmmaker and he should be lucky that an actor as big as Tom Hardy agreed to star in it so that it can get made in the first place. It was initially going to be theatrically released but due to the COVID-19 pandemic ended up being distributed digitally per video on demand. I didn't hear much about and chose to be blind to the marketing campaign. I rented it on Amazon Prime for $0.99 (a reduced price) and was frustrated by the dull experience, showing that Josh Trank needs more experience in his craft.

What's it about? The story follows the final year of gangster Al Capone's life as he suffers physically and mentally from neurosyphilis and dementia while residing in his Florida mansion. The concept of visiting someone during their final time of living has many opportunities. This biographical drama has a chance to show this historical figure who commits dangerous crimes in a vulnerable light with the weight of life crashing down on him.

 

The execution of this concept, however, is squander not only by the script but also the directing. The stakes for the situation at hand isn't realized due to how much the storytelling meanders in having the protagonist loose himself in the hallucinations. If you're hoping to learn a lot about this gangsters past here, the movie will disappoint you in those details as it barely talks about them with only one line alluding to an incident. The weight of the family relationships is lackluster due to how rushed those individual scenes are, along with not displaying any type of development to show from past to present. The movie is more focused on being a PSA on why you should avoid getting syphilis and dementia displayed through the physical bladder issues (directed in a way that's unintentionally funny) as well as the mental hallucinations. At the end, the minor subplots involved, sluggish pacing, and lack of depth in having the concept live up to its potential creates a boring dull viewing. 

How are the actors? In regards to story importance, the actor to focus on are Tom Hardy. Tom's performance is a double-edged sword in affecting the movies quality. On one hand, he's doing a solid job for what he's given in the first half of the story as there are a few moments where his facial expressions can bring in some sympathy. On the other hand, however, his acting become pretentious when he's either being over-the-top crazy mad, using his accent with something in his mouth (either a cigar or carrot), or looking too goofy in a drama later on. Both his efforts and the direction he's given end up pulling audiences in and taking them out of the movie. Honorable mentions Linda Cardellini for having a few nice moments to show the kind of spark this project could have had. 

 

Overall Consensus: Capone is an undertaking that squanders its potential due to a rushed underdeveloped script, weak directing, bad pacing lack of meaningful character bonds depicted, and a leading double-edged sword performance. ⭑⭑ Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes R

 

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors. You want to see a PSA on syphilis and dementia. You want to see directing that can lead to unintentionally funny moments. 

 

Reasons to avoid it: You dislike any of the aforementioned actors. You don't want to see a PSA on syphilis and dementia. You want to learn something interesting about Al Capone. You dislike slice of life biographical dramas with terrible pacing. You don't want to see pretentious acting that can take you out of a film trying to be serious.