Depp and Dillinger: A Review of "Public Enemies"
The film is based on the book by Bryan Burrough, "Public Enemies, America's Greatest Crime Wave and The Birth of The FBI." Unfortunately, there had to be more interesting stuff in the book that could have been used in the movie, 'cause considering the movie's 2 1/2 hours long, there wasn't nearly enough to keep my interest.
Yes, Johnny is quite good as Dillinger. A lesser actor would have had me ripping my hair out from boredom, but Johnny made you marvel at Dillinger's chutzpah while sympathizing with his need for fame.
Cotillard as Billie does what she can with what she's given. Billie and Dillinger's relationship is the most interesting one in the movie, but unfortunately it's not supposed to be a romance, it's supposed to be a biopic gangster film. On that level it fails.
Christian Bale as Purvis almost makes you forget how great an actor he can be with roles like Bruce Wayne in "Dark Knight" 'cause he mumbles his way through this one. If Purvis were really as dull as Bale's portrayal, it's a good thing he let his gun do his talking.
All the other assorted gangsters and G-men are pretty much interchangeable. We don't learn much about any of them so we also don't care when they get rat-ta-tat-tatted to Kingdom Come.
And let's talk about those gun fights. They look like they were done on the cheap. They have the almost soap opera-like appearance of being shot on video, and just like in a soap opera when they add CGI flames or explosions, the gunfire doesn't look authentic. Those scenes were also very dark, so even if you did care about who was getting shot, you couldn't see who was getting shot.
I kept comparing it to "The Untouchables," a more stylized and romanticized film, but also a much more entertaining one.
So is "Public Enemies" worth the $10 movie ticket? Only for die-hard Johnny Depp fans--you know, if you still have "21 Jump Street" posters on your wall. Anyone else should wait until you can see it for free, if you see it at all.
