j. edgar (2011). directed by clint eastwood.

for a clint eastwood movie, it is surprisingly bland. neither is he known for insipid story telling, especially when we are talking about the famous j. edgar hoover, the first fbi director who ruled the agency for a mighty 48 years. just when we thought that dictators only exist in backward african countries. 

the film was helmed by good actors. we have di caprio, judi dench and naomi watts to name a few. di caprio did a good job portraying a man in love with power more than anything else in his life. he is constantly scared of losing it, that he justifies spying, planting evidence, making up stories - anything that he could gather to black mail others when the situation demands him to. naomi watts, however, is forgettable. it's not her fault though, the nature of the film that has no real focus, flipping back and forth, loses a lot of details that could have make for a potentially moving story. 

but the film...it is like it has no climax. no punch line. it sort of went on and on without attempting to shed something fundamental about hoover. it is like eastwood had something to say but he decided against it in the last minute. his j. edgar is neither reviled nor admired - he is just another guy with mommy issues and gay but happened to be the most powerful man the fbi has ever had. i don't know why eastwood is so detached - and the absence of his trademark intimate story telling is severely missed in this movie.