Movie Review #14 Public Enemies

Public Enemies (2009) Johnny Depp. Christian Bale Directed by Michael Mann

There are some Michael Mann movies I absolutely love (The Insider, Heat, Manhunter), then there are those I kinda like (Collateral, The Last of the Mohicans, and ALI), and then there is Miami Vice...just not good. This is not as bad as Miami Vice but some of the same things I didn't like about Vice, I don't like about Public Enemies. First of all on the good side, the soundtrack is so F-ing cool I had to download a few Otis Taylor songs (only Michael Mann could make the Banjo cool again...well maybe Steve Martin could as well). Secondly the film looks and feels great, costumes, sets, the feel of the 1930's is without question here...and as usual it is Michael Mann cool. Thirdly and lastly on the good side, this film is stuffed with good acting, Depp is great as usual, Bale serves his role well, Billy Crudup as a young ambitious J. Edgar Hoover is a scene stealer, and the role players like Jason Clarke, Stephen Dorff (yeah crazy if you can forget he is Stephen Dorff he isn't bad), and a brief visit by Duke from the upcoming G.I. Joe: Channing Tatum who plays Pretty Boy Floyd also does well. The female lead is miscast, Marion Cotillard is a beautiful actress who was great in Love Me If You Dare and A Good Year, but she doesn't quite work right here. Her character Billie really has to pull you in for you to buy this movie as it is told to us...and sadly I was not pulled in. Actually it isn't Cotillard's fault that her character doesn't work well in Public Enemies...it is Mann's. Public Enemies weighs in at over two hours, yet in all that time I don't feel like I really know John Dillinger at the end of the film, or Agent Purvis, or J. Edgar Hoover, or really what just happened...besides what I already knew about the story that is. The film is cool (like Miami Vice maybe a bit too cool), but the story it tells is incomplete. I really wish more time was spent explaining some of the relationships, or perhaps why Dillinger would fall for this woman so fast, or maybe even how he pulled off his escapes or bank robberies...we really don't learn any of of that throughout the film, even the hints about the birth of the F.B.I. leave you begging for more information...that we never get...instead we get cool close ups of Johnny Depp, or cool close ups of Tommy Guns being loaded, or cool closeups of all those 1930's sunglasses styles. Mann's signature style oozes from everywhere...a little bit too much, (I fear it's kinda like when John Woo got old...remember Face/Off...it got old right around there) I hope that is not where Mann is headed. The bar is set high for me with The Insider being in my top 5 of all time, so I don't want to be too hard, but really Mann who has a writing credit here as well should have probably taken another look at the story and perhaps held back some of his MichaelMannishness in the editing room. All that said it is a cool film to watch (think The Good Shepard meets The Untouchables), who rates a worthy 6.5 rating and a modest recommendation (can wait for DVD, but it's cooler on the big screen).

Food for thought: Wouldn't you know in this day and age at the movies I can just walk right up to the snack stand and order a Venti Iced Vanilla Latte and they will actually give me one. I left this film wishing I had a cool pair of 1930's sunglasses and lived back in the time where everybody wore a 3-piece suit. Up next for Mann is a film called Empire and he also has many in development films. Depp is a busy guy with Alice In Wonderland, Sin City 3, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, and The Rum Diary (A Hunter S. Thompson novel...Tiffany where are you??) . Bale has The Fighter about Mickey Ward...played by Mark Wahlberg, Prisoners done by Bryan Singer (he did The Usual Suspects), and of course the next Batman flick. Bonus: Strong rumor is Pirates 4 is on the way...for those of you who like those movies...I sort of do settle down.