Public Enemies (2009)Director: Michael Mann
Starring :Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Jason Clarke
Starring :Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Jason Clarke
Plot: Johnny Depp and Christian Bale emerge from two of the biggest blockbuster series of all time (Pirates of the Caribbean and Batman, respectively) to star in this crime drama from Heat's Michael Mann. Depp stars as legendary gangster John Dillinger, while Bale plays FBI agent Melvin Purvis. (scoring 67% at rottentomatoes.com)
Review: Well, better late than never! I saw Public Enemies back during its first week of release and am just getting around to the review. Maybe that should tell you how I felt about it :-) Public Enemies was one of those "Summer Blockbusters" that I had been looking forward to since late Spring when the trailers started to swarm the Internet. I am a big mobster movie guy and with this cast (particularly Depp and Bale), I was super excited for this movie to be released. Despite the actors best efforts this movie failed to meet expectations and failed to take the nation by storm as they had originally hoped. Most of that should be blamed on director Michael Mann and the poor path and guidance that this movie followed.
Creatively speaking, the movie was great. I really enjoyed the costumes, props, and acting as they each made you feel as if you were truly back in the 1930's. Unfortunately all of that was completely in vain as the main focus of the movie was completely non-existent? I was never able to figure out what the director was attempting to focus in on as the over-arching focal point. We dabbled in John Dillinger's life of crime, dabbled into his love life, dabbled with his desire to be done, and dabbled into his fall from fame, but never really focused in on a substantial storyline that could be called the main focus of the movie. This was very disappointing to me as I had very high aspirations for this movie. Had they focused on his life of crime and showed more of the successful heists that he pulled while dabbling in love life and desires to be done the movie would have been much better.
In learning a little more about the real life accounts of John Dillinger and this time in US history, it was a little disappointing to see that some of the movie was a bit embellished and fakey. There were some parts that were supposed to have taken place in MN which did not and there was a drive from Sioux Falls, SD to the middle of Wisconsin which in the film only took an hour or two when that drive would take 4-5 hrs today going 70mph.
All in all the movie truly was enjoyable. Foolishly, I had high expectations and the film fell far short of those. It pains me to think of how good this movie "could have been." I'm through with my complaining and would recommend that you do see this movie, in theater or rental. I rate this film 4 stars out of a possible 5 stars.
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