Don't be misled by the title, the picture isn't about the glory days of America's most famous gangster. Instead, it takes a look at the final year of Al Capone's life in what is most likely conjecture, since much of the story involves his visions and imaginary conversations with people from his present and past, including a young, pre-teen version of himself. That's the thing, once it's over, you have no idea what might have been real or what Capone might have dreamt up in his dementia addled state of mind. A perfect example being the gold plated machine gun sequence in which he mows down a handful of his associates fearing they're the enemy. The first to go down is bodyguard Gino (Gino Cafarelli), but immediately after, we see Gino at Capone's side along with members of his family trying to console the deranged criminal. As a backdrop, we see the crime kingpin's possessions being hauled off for failure to keep up payments, while the Feds unsuccessfully attempt to interrogate Capone over an alleged ten million dollar stash that he can't remember hiding. With what he has to work with, Tom Hardy does an exemplary job of depicting a Capone who's lost all his marbles, but it's often a slog to get through with the long, brooding shots of the gangster facing the camera, never knowing if there's a coherent thought behind the facade. The sight of Hardy's Capone whaling away in a diaper is one of the more depressing sequences in the picture, and even more disgusting is the one scene in which he gives new meaning to the colloquial expression, he ---- the bed. And you thought the horse's head in "The Godfather" was scary!
Review of Capone
