Hardy’s Final Capone

An unconventional gangster drama led by an almost unrecognisable Tom Hardy is set to depart Netflix on February 24, closing the viewing window on one of the actor’s most transformative performances in recent years.

Released digitally in 2020 after its planned theatrical rollout was scrapped due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Capone arrived at a moment of industry upheaval. The biographical drama casts Hardy—known for roles in The Dark Knight Rises and Peaky Blinders—as the infamous Chicago crime boss Al Capone during the final chapter of his life.

Rather than chronicling Capone’s bloody ascent through the Prohibition-era underworld, the film zeroes in on his physical and psychological deterioration. At 47, after nearly a decade behind bars, Alfonse Capone is depicted battling dementia brought on by neurosyphilis. As memories of his violent past bleed into the present, he spends his last days at home with his family while the FBI lingers nearby, hoping he will reveal the whereabouts of millions allegedly hidden on his estate.

The project was written and directed by Josh Trank, whose career has swung between the breakout success of Chronicle (2012) and the troubled 2015 reboot of Fantastic Four prior to Marvel Studios regaining control of the property. With Capone, Trank leaned into a fever-dream character study that diverged sharply from conventional mob epics more in line with Martin Scorsese’s crime canon.

Critical reaction upon release was mixed, with some reviewers divided over its surreal tone and narrative looseness. Yet even detractors acknowledged the film’s audacity. As one review noted: “It's unhinged, and lacks subtleties and depths, but also has an imagination and out-there-ness that is rarely found in franchises. In detailing the last year of the gangster's life.”

In the years since its release, the film has attracted a modest following, largely thanks to Hardy’s transformative turn. The Oscar nominee for The Revenant disappears beneath heavy prosthetics and a rasping voice to portray Capone’s decline — a performance many consider the film’s chief draw.

Amid a landscape crowded with high-octane mob dramas, Capone instead offers an intimate portrait of deterioration and lost power — making its impending departure from Netflix a final call for curious viewers.