As I’m sure many a film aficionado will second, I was counting down the days until Public Enemies arrived in theaters. How, I asked myself, could this film be anything less than spectacular? It had Michael Mann at the helm. This was the mastermind behind the crime classic Heat, as well as Manhunter (the original foray into Hannibal Lecter’s twisted mind), and one of the best films of the past twenty years: The Last of the Mohicans. Along with Mann’s directing genius, Johnny Depp was in the front and center title role of John Dillinger, the famous 1930s bank robber who was portrayed as having dignity and class, despite his profession. As if these two weren’t enough, Christian Bale was signed on as Melvin Purvis, the cop who takes down Dillinger. While Bale may have been faltering with his public perception as of late (that leaked tape everyone heard), he’s still a top notch presence on the screen.

Then Public Enemies arrived in theaters on July 1st and it was just…there. I did my research like I always do when movies first come out. I read the reviews as I visited Entertainment Weekly, MSNBC, and Rotten Tomatoes, as well as checking out the reactions on iMDB message boards. The truth was nobody really had anything great to say. Sure there were your average solid comments. Critics and fans agreed that Depp was brilliant and did what he could with the poorly written character. But then they also thought Bale needed to get out of his serious boy rut and show a little more versatility. And then it came to Mann. While fans and reviewers all agreed that this was a genius director and writer, they commented that he could have delved into Dillinger’s story much more. The film showed none of the motivation for what he ended up doing with his life.

When I read about this, I, of course, cast it all aside as I normally do with reviews. Very rarely do I agree with critics, and usually nothing stops me from going to a picture that I have been dying to see. Well, they were right. While Depp’s performance was captivating at times, the film as a whole fell flat. One bright spot was that Marion Cotillard, as his love interest Billie Frenchette, delivered an equally strong performance as Depp. I did feel she added more emotional depth and gave us a character that was well rounded in her depiction of loyalty and subtle regret for becoming involved in the whole mess. Hats off to Cotillard for not succumbing to the Oscar curse. (C’mon, you know. When an actor or actress wins the big prize and then makes a string of crap. Think Halle Berry, or Adrian Brody).

I was just disappointed with Mann’s vision. This is the person who was just criticized for his last picture, Miami Vice. Personally, I felt that this film was pretty much a homerun, save for the unbelievable partner loyalty that Farrell and Foxx failed to convey. But the stories were stirring, the sets were riveting, and the crime element was flawless. But I guess for a director who still should be considered a visionary, we shouldn’t be too hard on him due to his strong record of success. Very rarely does a director have so few embarrassments on his records. And Public Enemies isn’t a catastrophe. It is just a boring and uninteresting film. It’s watchable. But I suggest renting it, along with a few other picks from Netflix so you can put in another in case you start to doze off….

Filed under: silver screen by admin