KINGSIZE MOVIE REVIEW: PUBLIC ENEMIES

With Public Enemies, director Michael Mann is revisiting familiar territory. In 1995 Mann directed Heat, a movie about a master bank robber and the determined cop hot on his trail. The two lead roles were filled by superstars, Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino. DeNiro, as the thief, had only one real weakness: a woman he fell in love with. Pacino, as the cop, seemed to really love only one thing: catching the bad guys. The movie went on to become one of the best films of the decade and, in my opinion, the best of Michael Mann’s career thus far.

In Public Enemies, the master thief is the legendary John Dillinger, played by Johnny Depp, one of the biggest stars in Hollywood today. The cop hot on his trail is Melvin Purvis, played by Christian Bale, the star of the second biggest money maker in Hollywood history. The girl that Dillinger falls for is Billie Frechette, played by Oscar winner Marion Cotillard. The rest of the cast is filled with a bunch of square jawed mugs, some with dark push broom mustaches.

The movie, set in the mid 30’s, is, of course, based on the true story, but it isn’t really a biopic. We don’t know much about Dillinger other than what he chooses to tell Billie: he likes baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars, whisky, and her. Oh yeah, and he robs banks. He’s also really good at it. So good, in fact, that he’s been declared Public Enemy Number 1 by a young J. Edgar Hoover.

The movie focuses mainly on the robberies and subsequent escapes. While that should be very exciting it shockingly wasn’t. I found myself checking my watch a lot. The action scenes didn’t really pop, the slow scenes didn’t really engage, and overall the movie really seemed to drag. The run time is about two hours and ten minutes so it’s not ridiculously long but it just moved . . .so . . .darn . . . slow.

Christian Bale, for the second time this year, seemed to completely mail in his performance. I understand his character isn’t the flashy one but he played Purvis so buttoned down and so understated I thought he was asleep! Depp didn’t turn in all that memorable of a performance either. At times he seemed to lazily drift along the edges of his Captain Jack Sparrow character. Cotillard was decent, but nothing too memorable.

Overall I walked out of the theatre extremely disappointed. Considering the subject matter, the cast, and the director, this movie should have been SO much better! Now admittedly, the first time I saw Heat 14 years ago I wasn’t an instant fan but since then after watching it without the high expectations it has become one of my all time favorites. I guess it’s possible that could happen for Public Enemies but right now all I can say is that it was quite the letdown. SKIP IT.