Movie Review - “Public Enemies”
** STARS
In the action-thriller “Public Enemies”, acclaimed filmmaker Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Best Actress Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard in the story of legendary Depression-era outlaw John Dillinger. Dillinger was the charismatic bank robber whose lightning raids made him the number one target of J. Edgar Hoover’s fledgling FBI and its top agent, Melvin Purvis (Bale), who ended up becoming a folk hero to much of the downtrodden public.
“Public Enemies” is not terrible or even unwatchable, it’s just too long and slow. I went into this film craving a change of pace from the regular high concept summer blockbusters like “Terminator Salvation”, “Wolverine” and “Transformers 2″ that have done little to make one use their brain while in the theater. Usually Michael Mann has a way of stretching out a story and making it seem seamless like he did in “Heat”, but with “Enemies” I found myself sighing with restlessness and boredom.
The acting by Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard are text book depression-era gangster cut out performances with not much real charm or passion added to them. The first half of this film had a lot of energy and excitement but somewhere in the middle, as the gangsters began to be executed by the FBI, the story began to plod along and lose steam. The two and a half hour running time was nowhere near as thrilling and cool as when it was done in “The Untouchables”, I found myself checking the time quite often.
In the end I had no compassion or sympathy for Dillinger, his love life or anyone in his band of outlaws. In much better gangster films such as “Bonnie & Clyde” we cheer for the Robin Hood mentality of the crooks. In Mann’s “Public Enemies” I ended up rooting for J. Edgar Hoover and his band of goons, and if history has taught us anything, that is not a good thing. This film may please hardcore Depp fans that think he can do no wrong, but I couldn’t help but wish the movie would just end about half way through.
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:20 am
Good review!