It is often said that a true testament to an actors talent and versatility is how they're able to carry an entire film on their shoulders based on their acting skills, along with elevating it to the status of being watchable if everything else surrounding them falls apart in regards to scriptwriting and directing. With Capone, acclaimed method actor Tom Hardy makes the most of his role as mobster Al Capone with him delivering his all in a film that should've been far more compelling than what it ultimately turns out to be, which can essentially be summed up as a hugely missed opportunity given that the film was aimed to be Oscar bait. Capone is a shocking misfire of a biopic that should only ever be watched for the strength of its main lead, who continuously demonstrates himself to be one of the finest actors of his generation with the capability of taking any lackluster script, and make it somewhat workable with Capone being a prime example. Unfortunately, Hardy's extreme and noble efforts to inject some much needed life into a bleak story isn't enough to redeem the film in its entirety.
Based on true events, the story for Capone focuses on mobster Al Capone (Played by Tom Hardy), being released from prison after serving a 10-year sentence for tax evasion with him spending his final days in his secluded Florida mansion. While there, he slowly begins dying from the effects of neurosyphilis with him experiencing dementia, hallucinations, strokes, and a lack of control of his own bodily functions. As his health deteriorates, both the FBI and those closest to him try to uncover the whereabouts of where Capone supposedly hid $10 million dollars from the authorities with the latter not having any memory of where he put it. The story of Al Capone is certainly one that's compelling enough to be made into a story though the filmmakers decision to focus on the final year of his life serves as being both a strange and awkward storytelling decision. Capone presents itself as being both an intense and personal character study of the iconic mobster with its greatest undoing being that the timeline of Capone's life the film chooses to focus on, is ultimately not that interesting in comparison to his early days as a mob boss. The films biggest problem is the fact that its poorly handled with the script being not that compelling and its talented cast of actors feeling wasted. One can't figure out upon watching the film on why it exists as it doesn't really inform the audience on Al Capone's life, and requires that the viewer knows who he is prior to watching it. The story has the makings of a great character study and mobster flick with the biggest letdown being the choice of timeline in Capone's life that the filmmakers focus on. Capone feels like a story that was designed to sweep the award season with its fantastic acting from its main cast and solid cinematography, but literally falls apart due to incompetent writing and directing which ultimately feels uninspired. The story of Al Capone is one that's fascinating and has been handled by much stronger filmmakers thus far (Brian De Palma's The Untouchables anyone), which makes the misfiring of Capone a disappointing one given that it carries all the elements that could've made it an exceptional biographical drama. Despite the noble intentions of the actors to make up for the scripts shortcomings, it's ultimately not enough to elevate Capone from being a bad film to a decent one despite the few good moments it possesses.
The performances from the main cast stand as being one of the films few main highlights with everyone making the most of the roles with Tom Hardy's performance as Capone being the main attraction. Whereas the rest of the movie falls apart around him, Hardy makes his character work through his masterful skills as an actor along with bringing believability to the film in regards to portraying Capone's decreasing mental state with him battling his illness. Without his performance, the film would be almost completely unwatchable as there's no glue to hold the audiences interest outside of Hardy's work. The rest of the cast turn in decent performances, though none of them match the level of work that Hardy puts into his role. The second best performance goes to Linda Cardellini as Capone's incredibly patient wife May, who struggles to take care of Al during his illness while also going toe-to-toe with him including one scene in which her character slaps Capone in the face demonstrating that she's not intimidated by him before switching back to her caring side again. Cardellini does well playing her role and manages to hold her own when sharing the screen with Hardy. Both actors demonstrate strong chemistry while managing to work well off each other. The rest of the supporting cast does manageable work with their roles while mostly hanging around in the background. Matt Dillon does well playing Chicago mobster Johnny, whose later revealed to be a ghost from Capone's past as a result of the latter's period of experiencing hallucinations. Although Dillon's part serves as being rather minimal, he makes the most of his experience and leaves an impression with audiences. The rest of the cast give noteworthy performances such as Al Sapienza as Al's older brother Ralph Capone, Katherine Narducci as Capone's sister Rosie, Jack Lowden as Crawford, an FBI agent whose searching for the millions of dollars Capone secretly his away with him going as far as comparing Capone to Hitler, and Kyle MacLachlan as Capone's physician Doctor Karlock, whose later revealed to be courted by the mob in trying to pry out of his patient the location of the $10 million dollars he hid away with Capone having no recollection of it. The cast for Capone does a great deal in trying to make up for the films shortcomings with everyone attempting to bring something to the table in regards to adding both tension and suspense to a bland script. None of the performances shown are terrible, but much of the supporting roles are too far hidden in the background to make much of a significant impact on the film as a whole with Hardy being the true standout here. The latter once again demonstrates himself as being a one man show in regards to being able to steal scenes from other actors, and become the audiences main focus. It just happens that with Capone, he becomes the films only saving grace despite his character carrying a strangely awkward voice due to his character suffering from dementia. Regardless of how one feels about the rest of the picture as a whole, it can be unanimously agreed upon that Hardy delivered a performance that's much deserving of a far superior script.
Whereas the film excels in the acting department, the directing and writing is where it ultimately falls apart with the story being mishandled and the film revealing a genuine lack of enthusiasm from its filmmaker behind the camera. The directing by Josh Trank (Who also serves writer, director, and editor.) aims to give the film an arthouse feel to it with the narrative taking a non-linear approach to telling its story. The film serves as being a deconstruction of the typical mobster flick with Trank attempting to give audiences a more personal side of Capone that hasn't been previously shown before. He attempts to blend both fiction and reality together simultaneously while using Capone's moments of hallucinations as a way to give audiences a glimpse of his past as being a notorious mobster, along with building up the tension throughout the story. One of the films key sequences that proves to be highly effective, is one in which the character of Capone snaps and uses a Tommy gun with both the execution of the scene, as well as Hardy's performance being well-balanced and handled. It serves as being one of the few moments in the film where the audience feels the full intensity of the plot. Trank gives the film an atmosphere that's dark, quiet, and moody with the pacing allowing the story to be a slow progression of a mobsters descent into madness with the more hallucinations he witnesses, that further drives his confusion, paranoia, and untrust of those around him. The film is well-shot with visually striking cinematography, that captures the greenish colors of the swampy Florida location along with pristine skies and trees that surround the elegant Capone estate. The film carries an appropriate look to it that brings believability to the 1940's setting of the story, while also making it feel like a mobster flick. The pacing for Capone is slow-burning but allows the audience to witness the steady deterioration of Capone's health with those around him seizing the opportunity to casually ask about where Capone stashed away the missing millions of dollars that both the mob and the FBI are searching for before he passes. The films score by EI-P serves as being both tense and well-made with the music helping to inject intensity to the story in areas where its sorely lacking in such. The films costume and set decorations both serve as being effective in transporting audiences back to the films time period with its elegant camera work delivering pans across the Florida waters, and areas around the wealthy Capone estate. In terms of the films directing, Josh Trank succeeds in providing the film with rich and elegant visuals, that make its appearance visually stimulating while delivering a sense of dread that the audience feels in regards to a shocking climax emerging with Capone's character. Trank's work here as director isn't terrible, but it doesn't do much to make it standout from being anything more than standard work for the artsy independent approach that Capone desires to take.
The films screenplay by Trank is where the film as a whole falls apart largely due to the foundation of the story not being strong enough to warrant a full-length feature film. The concept of a film focusing on Al Capone's final days in his Florida mansion with the audience watching his health deteriorate isn't that exciting no matter how hard the film tries to make it intense with the subplot involving the hallucinations. The audience isn't given much background on Capone prior for them to become invested in his last days nor generate any type of empathy for him. The legacy of Capone is one that's thrilling and Trank never presents the opportunity for the audience to get to understand his motives and reasonings for the past crimes he committed. The script largely assumes the audience to be familiar with Capone's biography and jumps to the end of his timeline. The character of Capone is so bland and poorly written in this version of his story, the fact that Tom Hardy is able to play his part as well as he does speaks volumes to his true testament as an exceptional method actor. The side characters all come across as feeling one note with no one besides Capone's wife feeling as if they have an extra layer of depth to them. Another main issue with the story is how uneventful it comes across as feeling with no major events unfolding as the film progresses with the one major sequence that occurs near the films climax, turning out to be one of Capone's bizarre hallucinations.
Although these scenes are generally effective, they come across as feeling too few and far between in a script that feels dry. The film also goes out of its way to introduce a recurring subplot involving the character of Capone and his illegitimate son, which never pays off despite being a consistent plot point that the film revisits repeatedly throughout the story. The film also suffers from feeling a bit pretentious in what it desires to show in terms of Capone's final days with the films overall message being one that says that those with violent pasts can be haunted by it even while suffering memory problems. While such a message can be both a powerfully effective one if done right, the audience never gets the feeling that Capone is haunted by his past crimes nor feels any kind of remorse for his actions because the character isn't presented in a way which the audience can explore his mind. The script makes it a point to show Capone be suspicious of those around him in regards to who he can trust and whose plotting to throw him under the bus, but the audience never see's any of Capone's past deeds to make him warrant such suspicion. The subplot involving the search for the rumored $10 million dollars, feels tacked on with no legitimate payoff to the story other than showing those closest to Capone attempting to find the location of the money. Capone is shown to notice the FBI watching him with the audience left questioning whether it was real or in his head. Although it aims to be a biographical piece, Capone's script takes a psychological thriller approach to it that bears resemblence to films such as Todd Philip's Joker and 2000's cult-classic American Psycho in regards to the filmmakers playing mindtricks with the audience in regards to them being led to believe that such a sequence or subplot is real until shown otherwise. Capone aims to walk down a similar path to those films narratively speaking, but ultimately comes across as feeling like a poor imitator as the films main storyline just isn't that intriguing to watch (Which should never be the case when making a film based around the life of someone as intimidating as Al Capone).
As noble as its attempts are to be something other than a wasted opportunity which turns out to be almost entirely forgettable, that's the best way to describe Capone's efforts here in wanting to be something that carries a small ounce of greatness that other films on Al Capone such as The Untouchables possessed. The films biggest problem is that it doesn't exactly know what it wants to be nor say with its final message as the narrative often feels uneven at times. The film aims to be serious work but Hardy's brilliant yet somewhat goofy performance confuses the audience on whether Capone is meant to be either a bleak psychological piece, that just happens to be a biographical crime drama or a dark comedy given that Hardy's character carries a weird vocal sound when it comes to speaking along with him tending to have moments of bodily fluid accidents which pop up in random moments throughout the film. These elements add confusion to the film as the audience isn't sure what the filmmakers we're aiming for with their approach to telling this story, nor understand why this specific time period of Capone's life was chosen for the basis of the films plot. Capone aims to be a more personal type of gangster flick, but just comes across as feeling weird and boring. The film is bleak and doesn't hold much entertainment value outside of Hardy's performance, ultimately feels wasted. Only those who appreciate slow-paced arthouse films will find value out of Capone with the rest of audiences feeling underwhelmed by it, as both the history aspect of the story along with the characters feel rather empty and shallow. What could've been a fascinating story revolving around the rise and fall of the infamous Chicago mobster has been dumbed down to 104 minutes film of the audience experiencing one's own cognitive decline. While the performances of both Tom Hardy and Linda Cardellini range from being strong to phenomenal work, the film ultimately serves as a prime example of good performances not being enough to compensate for lackluster storytelling. Capone serves as being a profound misfire with Hardy's fantastic performance being the only reason such a dud should ever be watched with those looking for a compelling story revolving around the reign of Al Capone as the notorious Chicago mobster should watch Brian De Palma's The Untouchables instead as the latter serves as being a much more satisfying experience than this. Capone stands as being one of the great cinematic misfires of 2020.
Final Verdict: For fans of the mobster film genre and Tom Hardy's work in general, Capone is a failed attempt at personalizing its main subject with Hardy's performance, though fantastic, ultimately not being enough to warrant a recommend to movie lovers.
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