Public Enemies

Public Enemies - out of 5

Let me start off by saying I like Michael Mann's directing and cinematography style, but all of his movies never really stick with me for some reason. And Public Enemies falls in that same category. There are some wonderfully executed scenes in this movie, but overall, it's just kind of average.

Johnny Depp continues to prove he is one of the best actors in movies today as John Dillinger, but Mann, Ronan Bennett, and Ann Biderman's script fell somewhat flat. Isn't a biopic supposed to tell us about a person/character? We really never learn much about Dillinger other than he liked to rob banks, but what was his motivation? his background? What made him tick? Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention, but I don't think we ever learn.

Maybe one of the best lines I've heard from a movie in a long time is an explanation to this. When Dillinger asks Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) to be "his girl" after they have just met, and she says she doesn't know him, he says, "I was raised on a farm in Moooresville, Indiana. My mama ran out on us when I was three, my daddy beat the hell out of me cause he didn't know no better way to raise me. I like baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars, whiskey, and you... what else you need to know?" I really love the line that starts with "I like baseball..." but is this enough to excuse the movie for a bunch of cookie-cutter characters?

Christian Bale did a serviceable job as the man who hunted down Dillinger, Melvin Purvis, but his accent was sort of strange at parts of the movie, especially when he first comes on screen. After that, his presence is felt throughout the film, and I appreciated his part.

I began to struggle every time a new shootout would start up as the movie went, which seemed to last entirely too long. It seemed like overkill with how ridiculous the audio was. Mann loves gun shots it seems. That brings up another point, I don't know if the DVD transfer was bad, but the audio on this movie was terrible. The dialogue was very very quiet and then the shootouts were extremely loud.

Also, since Mann decided to shoot with digital cameras, it looked somewhat strange at times, not film and not quite television. It looked kind of like what British television shows look like if you've ever seen them.

So I'd say Public Enemies is worth the rental, but lower your expectations and be prepared for a pretty bad movie technical-wise and an average movie story-wise.