"Capone" Movie Review

Capone is a film that is magnificently haunting and perfectly acted. I was left speechless by the end, my thoughts reeling in a million directions. Alphonse Capone lived a life of violence, doing bad things for what he considered to be the greater good. A lot of times, the greater good happened to be beneficial to himself more so than others. Some people loved him, a lot of people hated him, and even more feared him. There's been a great many movies made about him and even more books written about him, mostly about his life of crime before prison. What most sources overlook, though, is the end of his life. Josh Trank's Capone film focuses on the final year or so of Al's life, giving us an up-close and personal look inside what his condition was doing to him.

I've seen a lot of mediocre and negative reviews saying the film was pointless and dry. Well, I beg to differ. The point was to humanize a man who has been viewed as invincible for over 70 years. This film helped us relate to him and, in a lot of ways, helped us sympathize with him. How do you humanize someone who is viewed as larger than life? Easy. Make him vulnerable. The time when Capone was at his most vulnerable was in his last days. His neurosyphilis had done so much damage to his brain that he developed dementia. His dementia eventually became so bad that he was convinced there were spies watching him and that people were coming after him. Between the dementia and the built up guilt, Capone was a truly haunted man that could not find peace in his final days.

Tom Hardy performed astoundingly as the troubled Capone. Tom has shown that he has a wide range in his career, starring in such films as the comedy This Means War to the antihero Venom and has tackled tough roles such as Legend and The Revenant. Capone is a worthy addition to his long line of brilliant performances. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all if he nabbed a Best Actor nomination.

Josh Trank proved to be a fantastic screenwriter/director with this project, obviously doing his research and getting as accurate as possible. The only speculation in the film lies in the dementia-fueled hallucinations in which Capone was tormented by his actions in the past and his failing memory. There's even a huge mystery that's present in the film although it doesn't take center stage. Capone had hid $10 million somewhere but his mind was so far gone that he couldn't remember where he put it. While the film focused more on his mental instability and failing health, the question still remains: where is Capone's long-hidden cash vault? Is it still out there somewhere? Did someone find it and took the secret to their grave? Or did it never exist at all and Capone just hallucinated that too? We may never know.

In conclusion, don't listen to the trashy critics out there and see this film for yourself. As bad of a man as he was, Hardy and Trank still find a way to make you feel sorry for Capone, and that's a huge accomplishment in and of itself. I give the film a 3.5 out of 4.