Infamous mob boss Alfonse “Fonzo” Capone went to prison after getting busted for tax evasion. But he was released to house arrest at his palatial Florida estate ten years later when the feds judged that his neuro-syphilitic dementia rendered him harmless. And, oh yes, they really wanted to know where he had buried ten million dollars, so kept him under constant surveillance. The irony is that, by then, he hadn’t the foggiest idea where he hid the loot.
So what we have here is basically watching a powerful mobster’s brain rotting away amid nice surroundings. This does not a gripping gangster movie make, so writer/director Josh Trank, who is still trying to live down 2015’s Fantastic Four, sporadically throws in contrived and overly theatrical depictions of his ideas of whatever fever dreams the man might have been having as his senile mind reflected on his violent past. These are presented in a lame “and then I woke up” way that doesn’t fool anyone.
Trank’s film is certainly bold, but has severe continuity problems and lacks much insight or amusement. It’s more about Trank than it is about Capone, and thus just not very interesting. While any Tom Hardy performance is worth a look, this is a highly unpleasant sit, and I can’t really bring myself to recommend it. (103 min)
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