Can Johnny Depp Save 'Public Enemies'?
Filed under: Drama, New Releases, Universal, Fandom, Johnny Depp, Summer Movies
Are you psyched to see Captain Jack Sparrow as a real-life gangster? Johnny Depp plays an infamous criminal in Michael Mann's Public Enemies, which opens tomorrow. But in a world where giant robots draw huge crowds, "do audiences want to see Depp as a fairly realistic, non-fantasy version of Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger?"
That's the question asked by Anne Thompson, a veteran industry analyst. She describes the movie as only "fitfully engaging ... often flat as a pancake." She says that Michael Mann's "biggest misstep here is the same as the Wachowskis with Speed Racer. His pursuit of what interests him formally may leave audiences behind." Like David Fincher's Zodiac and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Mann's own Collateral and Miami Vice, Public Enemies was shot on high-definition video. Thompson claims: "When moviegoers watch a period film, no matter how authentically recreated, they aren't expecting it to look like this. There's something jarring about the way Public Enemies shoves us into the past."
I don't know about you, but I could use a good shove now and again. I've enjoyed Mann's last two films, and the trailers for Public Enemies have done a good job of whetting my appetite. The cast, including Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, and Billy Crudup, looks solid. I don't have any preconception about how period films should look -- I want a good, well-told story with interesting characters. How about you? Do you have certain expectations about how films set in the past should look? Do you want to see Johnny Depp as a "fairly-realistic, non-fantasy" bank robber?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-30-2009 @ 4:08PM
Scott said...
I'm more baffled by the timing than anything else. I think the film looks great, and I'm excited to go see it, it just seems such an odd film to release the week of Independence Day.
Even as counter-programming an R rated true life crime drama, even with an amazing cast like this, seems like an Autumn/Winter movie, no?
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6-30-2009 @ 4:11PM
V.M.L. said...
Johnny Depp is good at everything. :)
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6-30-2009 @ 4:14PM
mezzanine said...
You liked Miami Vice???
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6-30-2009 @ 4:46PM
Stan Winsome said...
Speed Racer's misstep was shooting digital? Really? C'mon I thought it made a lot of other missteps like casting, directing, writing, and just basic concept. Digital cameras had zero effect on the crappiness of that movie.
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6-30-2009 @ 5:50PM
cromag said...
That's not what the post said, it said that the mistake was pusuing what interests the director at the expense of leaving the audience behind. The sentence about shooting digital was after that.
6-30-2009 @ 4:59PM
Chupacabra said...
"they aren't expecting it to look like this" ? In high definition? I have no idea what she means by this comment. Does the movie not look like the past? Or too much like the period? I'm totally confused by her statement.
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6-30-2009 @ 5:10PM
Mike said...
I think I know what she means. To use another example, you want a western to look like Butch and Sundance or Dances with Wolves, not American Outlaws or the The Newton Boys.
So she could have a point about the cinematography, although I haven't noticed that to be the case with this movie, judging from the trailers I've seen.
I'm more concerned with the story myself.
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6-30-2009 @ 5:31PM
Dan said...
I couldn't care less about the way it was shot and being a period piece. I love Michael Mann. I own and love Heat, Collateral, and Miami Vice and the digital camera is different, but it works, I think. And not only do I want to see Depp as a "fairly-realistic, non-fantasy" character, this is easily my most anticipated film of the summer.
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6-30-2009 @ 5:34PM
Greg said...
It seems like she is one of those that still prefer film over HD content. I think for most movie audiences they care more about a good story and good action. If anything the modern look might help this film, given that people don't like anything that looks old.
I think Depp thanks to the pirates franchise will "save" this movie. Everything since Pirates that Depp has done has performed well, critically and financially for the most part.
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6-30-2009 @ 5:58PM
cromag said...
Anyone looking for a good story, well told by the director will be dissapointed. This movie leaves you with a big empty feeling, like a "what was the point of all that"
As to the look, its shot and lit like "Crank" but with period costumes and sets. Its very odd. And the sound mix is awful. Some dialog hurts your ears, other times its so muffled its unintelligible, and not in an "artistic" way...
Mr Depp is this movie's only hope of selling tickets
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6-30-2009 @ 6:20PM
Katie said...
Comparing Speed Racer and anything by Michael Mann is comparing garbage and salad with endive - not everyone enjoys the flavour of endive. Garbage, however, is garbage.
I love Mann. Can't wait to see Public Enemies. And it will be nice to see a movie that expects that I, as an audience-member, have an IQ above room temperature.
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7-01-2009 @ 1:37AM
hollombe said...
That's ok I dont care for Depp,Bale and esp lousy actress anti American Cotillard who talks like Pepe Le Pew plus the original Public Enemies is still a masterpiece.
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7-01-2009 @ 1:48AM
usa said...
I think the only classics for Mann will always be Heat and Collateral......Im sorry but my July 4th weekend is for the family barbeque, will be watching Up again and most of all Transformers...
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7-01-2009 @ 12:13PM
FL said...
Whether its film or Digital doesn't matter, it's the frame rate it was shot at. It appears in this movie was shot at 30fps vs 24fps. So it basically has a soap opera look rather than a movie.
In the early years of the film industry, it was determined that 24fps was the most artistic looking.
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7-02-2009 @ 7:14AM
morfeo said...
Speed Racer? Do you consider it a movie? Of course i prefer to see a very good actor like Johnny Depp giving life to bank robber Dillinger more than watching him earning easy money with bad stuff like "Pirates..."
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7-06-2009 @ 9:34AM
Jacquie said...
I saw "Public Enemies" In a preview screening. I'm glad I didn't pay!! I found it ponderous and repetitive. At two hours and twenty three minutes, twenty three minutescould have been eliminated without harm. I love Cotillard! Depp is fine. I found I was bored a large part of the movie. Maybe it was the pacing.
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7-09-2009 @ 12:50AM
dell said...
Saw the movie...it was good. I take issue with the fancy camera work...I mean, the camera pans so much that it is hard to focus. I know this seems to be the latest thing to do (I am reminded of the 3rd Jason Bourne movie where in some of the scenes, the camera seems to be running along side Bourne and makes for a jarring view), it is awfully hard on the eye and makes it difficult to focus. In the real world, our eyes don't jostle around in our head when we look from side to side or run. What is the purpose of having to view a movie that you can't focus on?
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