Public Enemies

Bale. Depp. Mann. (Cottilard.)

That billing should make me want to see this movie more than 5 times.

It doesn't.

However, it makes me wonder why. Was this because it was based on a true story that wasn't creative enough to make a full length movie for? Should this have been a documentary? Has Michael Mann lost his ability to entertain?

I think the first question answers my question. Before I go on, I want to talk about something that no one has picked up on yet. Johnny Depp. Johnny Depp is a good actor, agreed. The disagreement is that he is not even in the discussion of top 10 actors. He plays a good character when its all spiced up for him, or when Tim Burton asks him to put on the same repetitive, wacky character role. But, as you can see in this movie, he is greatly outacted by Marion Cottilard and especially Christian Bale. Yet for some reason, Bale never gets the credit.

Going on, this movie briefly outlines the time the movie was going through. With multiple bank robbers and their demises from a vastly improving government agency targetted to stop domestic crime. After which, it focuses on Dillinger the whole time, with a less than 50% split on Melvin Purvis, the man who led his team to eventually capture John Dillinger. The movie is a bit different than the facts of what really happened, but it stays relatively true.

I think the movie had too much information it wanted to cover. Instead of a good story to be entertained by, Mann delivered a good story to be educated by. I never felt sucked into this movie, and it was a disappointment.

All that aside, the movie is very watchable, and there is some great acting, and it is quite educating. However, it doesn't deliver to its hype.

Sorry for the Depp bashing, but he is a little over-rated and I'm not really looking forward to his role as Willy Wonka The Mad Hatter in the new Alice in Wonderland.

I rate this movie 6.5 out of 10.