Not even Tom Hardy could save this film. You could say he was the last big weight to sink it. I feel like Hardy was trying to go for the role of his career and get an Oscar for this. But man, he goes too far in a lot of places. I don’t know whose idea it was for him to take the direction that he did with the character, but it does not translate well on screen. Tom Hardy puts on this weird voice that sounds like an exaggeration of a grumpy old man that seems more comical than serious. I thought that’s what he was going for at first until I looked up that Capone was in his early 40s when he died!

I don’t know if this performance from Tom was historically accurate to Al Capone during these times or not. I just know that I could not take him seriously. In fact, there were scenes where I was actually laughing out loud (or “lol-ing” as the kids would say). It’s been a long time since I’ve laughed so hard at a film that wasn’t trying to be funny.

All of the other characters were pretty boring by comparison. The only other interesting character was Capone’s wife, played by Linda Cardellini. She’s only interesting because she has to look after her husband who is becoming a shell of who he was. She has to deal with him crapping the bed, losing his mind, and forgetting things. You really start to feel bad for her. But that’s it.

I need to share the dumbest and my favorite line of the entire movie, spoken by one of the FBI agents: “You know what the difference is between Adolph Hitler and Al Capone? Hitler’s dead.” It cracks me up, so I had to share it with you all.

Another issue I had with this film—and I don’t know what anyone else thinks—was Tom Hardy’s make-up. It didn’t have me convinced. Now, I don’t know a whole lot about make-up, but I do know that all I could see was Tom Hardy in make-up pretending to be Al Capone. I don’t think that’s supposed to happen.

The overall look of the film is fine. The cinematography is competent. There actually are some pretty interesting visuals in this film, mostly in the dream sequences. The big technical problem I had with the film was the editing. I don’t talk about editing a whole lot in my reviews, because good editing means you don’t notice it. But there are just way too many fast cuts in this film, and it makes the viewing experience uncomfortable.

If nothing else, it was entertaining to laugh at Tom Hardy’s performance. But honestly, I was pretty bored during most of the movie. It’s an interesting idea that turns out to be a confusing, lackluster mess. If you’re at all interested in seeing it, you can rent it on iTunes or YouTube for $10. But, in my opinion, you’re better off watching good gangster films like Goodfellas, Reservoir Dogs, or The Irishman.

Clifford Close

Writer and Movie Reviewer