Not bad, actually

So I watched it last night, and I have to say... I don't really understand the bad rep this is getting.

Don't get me wrong, it's no unfairly maligned masterpiece; I found that, for the most part, it lacked the gravitas such a story requires, and Hardy's Capone seems less like a conflicted man haunted by his violent past, or a fading has-been, wistfully pining for his glory days, but instead, just comes across as a hopelessly befuddled invalid, aged way beyond his years by illness. None of the secondary characters comes across as especially memorable, either. I think it would have benefited enormously from a tighter script, as well as a longer run time.

All that being said, though, I really don't think this is a bad film. When it does hit the mark (mostly in the scenes which show a clueless Capone horrified at the violence he himself perpetrated or orchestrated), the potential for greatness really shows, and though I think it could have been better, it held my attention all the way through. I'm not sure if people's expectations were the problem here (going in expecting a crime drama, or something of the sort), but for me, it delivered exactly what it said on the tin - a competent and entertaining, if not brilliant, story about a man's descent into dementia.