I looked forward to seeing this on DVD so much that I preordered it on Amazon. After watching it I'm sorry I bothered. Where do you start ? The constant chopping and changing of time period,which would have confused seasoned time travellers like Dr Who. It certainly confused my fellow viewers who unfamiliar with the story gave up in places. The photography which was nearly monochromatic. You could hardly see anything in some scenes. I kept shouting "turn the damn lights on !" The gay stuff, which was truly bizarre. Portraying Hoover and Tolsen as unconsummated lovers, when many accounts have said otherwise. It degenerated to fighting at one point making it look like a middle class Broke Back Mountain remake. The hideous make up, on the three leading actors that looked like science fiction mutation. The worst was Tolsen who looked like the victim of a aircraft fire at one point. More unintentional comedy.
But it was what was omitted that made the film look weak. Very little on the JFK, RFK and MLK assassinations, that Hoover failed to investigate properly. Or may have helped occur. No analysis was attempted here. Nothing on his fake war on crime while hobnobbing with gangsters. Absolutely zip on World War 2, were he actually caught a few Nazi spies. Nothing about how Hoover's 'Get King Squad' was given the job of investigating his murder. Nothing on COINTELPRO, the largest illegal opening of personal mail in history. Nothing on how most Communist organisations in the USA were fakes run by Hoover to trap new recruits. Nothing on LBJ, who was one of Hoover's neighbours and a close friend. Next to nothing on the McCarthy Trials, apart from mentioning his name a couple of times. This was were Nixon made his name being fed information by Hoover at the Alger Hiss trial, none of which was included. We didn't even get to see the shootings of Dillenger,Floyd or Nelson in any detail - robbing the film of a chance of a bit of excitement. Also, all Hoover buffs know he wore a gardenia in his lapel every day. This film was practically flower free.
I can't really see the point of making a biopic with so much history removed, suppressed and deleted. Hoover did enough of that in real life without Hollywood doing the same. The chance to shed some light ( pun intended - see lighting notes above )on a dark period of American history was spectacularly missed. Hoover comes out instead as a well meaning eccentric rather than the monster most people say he was.
But it was what was omitted that made the film look weak. Very little on the JFK, RFK and MLK assassinations, that Hoover failed to investigate properly. Or may have helped occur. No analysis was attempted here. Nothing on his fake war on crime while hobnobbing with gangsters. Absolutely zip on World War 2, were he actually caught a few Nazi spies. Nothing about how Hoover's 'Get King Squad' was given the job of investigating his murder. Nothing on COINTELPRO, the largest illegal opening of personal mail in history. Nothing on how most Communist organisations in the USA were fakes run by Hoover to trap new recruits. Nothing on LBJ, who was one of Hoover's neighbours and a close friend. Next to nothing on the McCarthy Trials, apart from mentioning his name a couple of times. This was were Nixon made his name being fed information by Hoover at the Alger Hiss trial, none of which was included. We didn't even get to see the shootings of Dillenger,Floyd or Nelson in any detail - robbing the film of a chance of a bit of excitement. Also, all Hoover buffs know he wore a gardenia in his lapel every day. This film was practically flower free.
I can't really see the point of making a biopic with so much history removed, suppressed and deleted. Hoover did enough of that in real life without Hollywood doing the same. The chance to shed some light ( pun intended - see lighting notes above )on a dark period of American history was spectacularly missed. Hoover comes out instead as a well meaning eccentric rather than the monster most people say he was.