At fourty-seven years old and fresh from a ten year stint in jail, Al Capone (Tom Hardy) finds himself in Florida, “living like a King” but begins suffering from dementia and the demons in his head, while the feds also do their best to get him back behind bars. At just under two-hours long, this is an insightful look into the slow and haunting demise of one of the most notorious gangsters of all time.

Director: John Trank
Writers: John Trank
Starring: Tom Hardy, Linda Cardellini

After seeing a countless number of poor reviews for Tom Hardy’s latest release, I was intrigued about giving Capone a shot, but it’s fair to say that what eventually transpired wasn’t exactly what I had expected. Capone wasn’t an action film by any stretch of the imagination, nor was it a crime one, but it was most definitely a dark, depressing and at times repulsive portrayal of a man losing everything he once had.

Despite these pretty harsh critics, I do believe the filmmakers did a superb job of portraying Al Capone as the ageing and vile man he was, while losing his mind in the process. The horrendous way in which he spoke to the people around him was emphasised greatly, along with the constant grunting and generally disgusting mannerisms he depicted throughout. Even as the movie wore on, the characters behaviour became even more erratic and unpredictable along with his mental and cognitive state doing so too. It’s also fair to say that the filmmakers did a great job in creating an extremely fine line between imagination and reality, one that was difficult to distinguish at times.

The soundtrack is worthy of a note also – it had a really sinister and almost demonic sense to it, almost as if it was gearing the viewer up for something huge to happen at any given moment, but sadly that didn’t really occur, other than when the character experienced one or two lucid dreams, where some brutality was unleashed.

In terms of the cast, it’s fair to say that Tom Hardy is certainly well-known for his somewhat “different” roles and this was no different. He delivered a disturbing performance and one that many may be confused by, and that’s completely understandable, but on a whole I felt he did a steady job given the task at hand. Elsewhere, Linda Cardellini adopted the role of Al Capone’s wife, Mae, and did a really good job when needed.

It has to be said however, as a viewer, you at times couldn’t do anything else other than feel empathy for Capone too, especially with his mental state failing him and the feds continuing their tirade against him – hoping to catch him out with the smallest of slip-ups. Not the greatest release of 2020 but probably not the worst either.

“You got goons walking around…”

Al Capone – Capone