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19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Unengaging, 14 Aug 2009
There is a scene in this film where the character of Dillinger says to his would-be-girlfriend something along the lines of "I like movies, pizza, my dad hit me when I grew up (etc. etc)...what more do you need to know?" And it seems that this attitude permeates the whole film: don't give us character, give us ACTION.
I speak as a fan (a 'Mann Fan'?!?) but lately he's slacking - you could summerise this film as like HEAT, set in the 1930s but without the emotional heart. I can't ever remember being flat-out bored by action/gunfights but here...there's no real sense of character to tag it all to. I see the reviews up already proclaiming this to be a masterpiece: do you really think so? I left the film knowing nothing about the Christian Bale character, at all, and practically nothing about Dillinger. Yes it looked great, very authentic etc. But where was the sense of the world these people operated and grew up in? Where was the depression that made the central character such a folk-hero.
I wanted to know a little more about Dillinger, and his persuer: knowing that ups the stakes in a story and it's not hard to do, nor does it take much time.
Look at how easily ASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES gave us a sense of the time and place, of an era coming to a close (much like for Dillinger some decades later) but there is no similar attempt here.
A word about editing: I'm no film maker but Mann's movies seem to be becoming less coherent in the narrative - there was a point during the 'Cabin ambush' that I and several other people in the cinema felt that Dillinger had been shot and killed, which a few moments later proved not to be the case. It was a different character but...bad editing left it confusing for the viewer.
Another thing which I find odd is the minute use of great actors - Ribisi, Crudup, even Steven Dorf (and it's nice to see him doing some high profile work again) they literally come and go with barely a moment or two on screen. The effect is like the Player or something - 'who can we spot next?'
In the end, there probably was a tale to be told, but it could have been deeper, richer and more resonant.
I don't like being so negative but when it all finished I was left with the feeling that there'd been too much attention paid to visuals and action, not enough to character and STORY.
I'm off to watch Heat or The Insider again...
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Public Enemies, 28 Aug 2009
Is it possible? Nah, it can't be. It is? I can't believe it!!! For the first time since 2004's Finding Neverland, audiences are going to see Johnny Depp. It's not that this is his first film since portraying the J M Barrie in the 2004 film. Rather it's his first film since then which doesn't see him sporting a weird haircut, signing, prancing about, speaking in cock-er-ney accents or playing Jack bloody Sparrow in those insufferable pirate films. For once, the superb actor is playing it straight. And the verdict? Why doesn't he do it more often!!!
In 1930s Chicago, John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) and his band of outlaws have built a reputation as local heroes, by carrying out clinical robberies on banks whilst leaving the great depression hit American public alone. Dillinger has the run of the town, and its women, with Billie (Marion Cotillard) catching his eye. Hot on his tail though is Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), who the FBI has brought in to catch the notorious criminal, using a raft of new technologies and techniques.
Depp is superb has the 1930s playboy, filling the role with the charm and charisma required to make a conniving bank robber likeable. He also brings to the screen that audacity and star factor that Dillinger himself had at the height of his fame. Marion Cotillard, who won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Edith Piaf, is brilliant has Dillinger's other half Billie Frenchette. She is able to be both the glammed up other half America's most wanted criminal and the vulnerable girl who is sucked into a world she knows nothing of. Unfortunately, she is wasted though, as Mann and fellow screenwriters Ronan Bennett and Ann Biderman struggle to give her character the depth and plot she deserves. Christian Bale is on autopilot yet again, as the cold, moody Melvin Purvis. His emotionless performances are becoming tedious and he'll need to break out soon for fear of becoming type cast.
The locations used by Michael Mann in filming Public Enemies are simply stunning. Much of Wisconsin stands in for Chicago, due its high volume of historic buildings. The real beauty comes in the detail of using both the old Lake County jail, from which Dillinger escaped, and Little Bohemia Lodge, in which Mann recreates Dillinger's shoot out with Purvis' FBI team. The veteran director has also switched from using 35mm film to recording on digital film. Although some believe this gives the period film too clean a finish, it actually helps to immerse the audience in the action, actually transporting them back to the high-class restaurants and dusty old prisons of the 1930s. However, with low brimmed hats and many a dark room, it can be difficult at times to tell the difference between many of the male leads.
No matter how good Public Enemies looks, or how well it's acted, the film is lacking a significant dramatic crux. The entire film scrapes around for something to hook onto. In some parts, it's a straight biopic about the Dillinger himself; in others it's about the FBI's pursuit of him; and in others it looks at the relationship between Dillinger and Frenchette. On their own, any one of these would have been interesting, but joined together, the film becomes a slight mish-mash of storylines, which continually veer off in one direction and then another. The traditional `Mann-biguity' about the two leads characters is also missing. In both Heat and The Insider, Mann puts the message across that although his lead characters may be from opposing camps, they're simply two-sides of the same coin. In Public Enemies though, he sets out his stall within the first ten minutes of the film, and form then on in, viewers' perceptions of the two lead characters are skewed.
The Verdict
Although Depp is electric and the setting is spectacular, Public Enemies has had greatness stolen from clutches by a less than engaging storyline.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
America's first war on crime., 8 Jul 2009
In an interview for "Public Enemies" writer/director/producer Michael Mann discussed how John Dilinger "exploded onto the scene", a feat that Mann seems to have left out in his movie. Having just left a screening of "Public Enemies" I'm surprised at my own sense of indifference at a film that looked like one of the years very best. The players involved couldn't be of a higher calibre, Michael Mann a much celebrated filmmaker whose works include "Heat", "Collateral", "The Insider", "Manhunter", Johnny Depp who is incapable of giving a bad performance, and the reliably excellent Christian Bale as special agent Melvin Purvis the man charged with brining down John Dilinger. It sounds, and a times feels vaguely like "Heat" with two of the best actors of their time going head to head, albeit with little screen time together, an epic tale of cops and robbers with some elaborate shootouts and two devoted men working on opposite sides of the law.
At the beginning of "Public Enemies" we see Dilinger pull off an audacious prison break for several members of his gang, including his mentor Walter Dietrich. The Dilinger we are introduced to here isn't romanticized, he's efficient, calculating and undeniably intelligent but he's never portrayed as a hero and the opening at the prison shows the importance of his relationship with Walter Dietrich and how he treats the man responsible for his death. As far as folk heroes go (I think Depp mentioned Jesse James was Dilingers idol) he never stole and gave back to the poor but he cared deeply enough about his public image to turn down jobs that may dissatisfy the public, such as kidnapping. Johnny Depp plays Mr. John Dilinger in a very restrained performance, not so much of a charismatic folk hero but rather a straight up, highly impressive outlaw who probably knew his wild ride wasn't going to last. The film encapsulates the thirteen months that according to Michael Mann was when Dilinger enjoyed life enough for several lifetimes after getting out of prison having been incarcerated much earlier in his life for nine years for petty theft. Among the various familiar faces playing small roles as members of Dilingers gang and associates are David Wenham (Harry Pierpont), Stephen Graham (Baby Face Nelson), Giovanni Ribisi (Alvin Karpis), Stephen Dorff (Homer Van Meter), Jason Clarke (John "Red" Hamilton) and for such an infamous bunch only Jason Clarke and Stephen Graham are given significant screen time to leave an impression which is disappointing as a host of colourful supporting characters have little more than cameos. Dilinger may have been head-honcho but the likes of Alvin Karpis and FBI agent Purvis (Christian Bale) could have entire films devoted to their stories.
Watching "Public Enemies" I felt like the story never really got off the ground despite an excellent cast, top class director and production values of the highest order. Dilingers romance with Billie Frechette (played by Marion Cotillard), feels rushed though that may very well have been the case in reality as it is presented in Manns film, the shoot-outs lack the intensity of that legendary Los Angeles shoot-out in "Heat" perhaps because most of the people watching may know who's time here is up and when and we never see what happens to more than half the Public Enemies. As an audience member who was largely uninformed about the time and the Public Enemies, I don't feel like I found out a great deal or at least enough about Dilinger (strange for a two hour and twenty minute picture devoted to his legacy), his gang, and his girlfriend Billie or Melvin Purvis to really feel anything strongly about any of them and Dilinger as a person in this medium doesn't come off as grand or as richly as say, in recent biographical pictures, Howard Hughes, Muhammad Ali (Mann produced "The Aviator" and co wrote, produced and directed "Ali"), Jesse James or to a slightly lesser extent Frank Lucas in Ridley Scott's "American Gangster". Bale and Cotillard are both solid in their respective roles but neither appears to be given a great deal to do. As Purvis Bale makes several speeches to agents in relation to getting Dilinger and he does have to deal with several deaths of his own men that could and maybe should have been avoided, he also has one rather brief and under-whelming scene with Dilinger. Also the dynamic between Purvis and his mentor J Edgar Hoover, played brilliantly in a small but absolutely pivotal part by Billy Crudup, isn't touched upon here. Purvis and his own personal downfall would make an interesting film if anyone out there wanted to make it. As for Marion Cotillard she ends up being the love interest who gets swept off her feet by Dilinger but their relationship isn't fleshed out enough in the film to give it the heart the story needs, though Depp's performance provides it's soul and his final scene is one of the few truly great cinematic moments in the film.
I've rambled along quite a bit more than I initially intended and I am aware that this is extremely schizophrenic assessment but I think anyone with even a passing interest in cinema should check this out, three out of five stars is not really a fair rating, three and a half out of five would represent a more even score. Solid with a few moments of greatness and as shot in digital high definition gorgeous to look at, as was Collateral, though I felt it distorted the authentic period look and as a result doesn't feel as a gritty as one might expect a depression era set period piece should, though that's a very marginal complaint. Go see "Public Enemies".
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