Capone

Josh Trank’s Capone has the right idea, a few of them actually, but it fails to execute those ideas; at least it occasionally fails to do so in spectacular fashion.  The film takes a known notorious figure in the feared Chicago bootlegger/gangster Al Capone, and casts Tom Hardy.  That’s “right idea” number one.  Hardy is one of the most gifted chameleons we have, and the role of Capone gives him a chance to disappear into something exciting and thrilling to watch.  Of course the first obstacle is that we’ve seen Capone on film many times before, along various other gangsters of his era.  Hardy is the kind of performer to find something new in the figure, or at the very least, something memorable.  So…then the questions become about the rest of movie, and what kind of story it will have to keep things fresh.

“Right idea” number two is that Trank’s film takes place during the last year of Capone’s life, an area seldom explored in past iterations put to celluloid. Post his eleven-year sentence at the United States Penitentiary, Capone was released due to his suffering at the hands of neurosyphilis (an infection of the nervous system) and dementia.  As the narrative opens he lives in Florida with his family and close friends, occupying an extravagant house that still gives off the appearance of him living like a king, though he’s no longer a threat to society.  This means that not only does Hardy get to play Al Capone, but he gets to play him as a man haunted by the failing of his body and mind, adding a layer of potential pathos to what was once a symbol of power and ruthlessness.

The problems arise with Trank not really knowing what to do with this story, and so he shoehorns in a few plot threads that go nowhere, while Hardy darts his eyes around,  mumbles and yells incoherently, and shits himself…twice.  The film brings light to the idea that Capone has a stash of 10 million dollars, though he can’t recall where he hid it.  This gets the FBI involved, who bug Capone’s house in case he’s faking this dementia; however, the film never gives you any reason to believe the man’s illness is insincere, and so there’s no suspense to anything.   On top of that, there’s a plot-line involving Capone’s alienated son, who at first seems to be a potential informant for the FBI…but then the narrative sort-of drops it, so who cares.

The main issue with the movie is that it takes a few steps into a more ambitious territory, but seems too afraid to actually become ambitious.  There’s s a character in this film who seems to only exist in Capone’s mind, a personification of his regrets, but the movie introduces the character in a way that’s simply impossible.  To take a second look at the movie, you could assume that Trank is intentionally crafting a story that’s supposed to be as messy as a mind battling dementia.  Except…he only pretends to take the beginning of a risk, and the sum of his ambition is not a brain descending into an abyss, but a script with a plot-hole.

Hardy absolutely goes down swinging though, as one would expect.   I made remarks about his mumbling before, but there’s a great performance in many of his scenes of this movie…and I wish the story could match his talent.  The rest of the cast is strong as well.  Linda Cardellini as Capone’s long suffering wife must watch the man she knew fall from his lack of grace, and clean up the pieces.  Matt Dillion and Kyle MacLachlan do respectable work in small roles.  Jack Lowden as the head-strong FBI agent is wasted, but a better film would have painted him as a more formidable foe.

Trank is known for his issues behind the scenes, especially with his awful Fantastic Four reboot that ruined his up-and-comer status he rightly earned with Chronicle. With Capone, he has no one to blame but himself, as he had final-cut, and even edited the discombobulated end result. The film is also flat visually, which is kind of unforgiving with a gangster picture…even a not-quite ambitious one with good ideas.  In the end…Capone fills its pants the wrong way.

Grade: D+