Public Enemies ... On A Scale of 1-10?
Filed under: Action, Drama, Thrillers, New Releases, Universal, Johnny Depp, Summer Movies, Polls
It's the Fourth of July weekend, and what better way to celebrate America's independence than by watching a John Dillinger decide taxation with representation wasn't nearly as much fun as the patriots made it out to be. Public Enemies has gone wide this week, brandishing their tommy guns in the hopes of stealing some of Transformers' box office thunder. If anyone can do it, it might just be Johnny Depp, who does appeal to a crowd that Optimus Prime just can't reach.
Jeffrey Anderson was full of praise for Michael Mann's film, likening it to earlier crime classics such as Max Nosseck's Dillinger or Don Siegel's Baby Face Nelson. "... it equals them, capturing some of their raw energy and allure and clocking in as a longer, but equally fast-moving and adrenaline-pumping example Somehow Mann only manages to use the extra time for flash and spectacle, and hardly any for depth or detail, but that only helps to speed things along. Happily, he also avoids the typical origin story, and plunges right in ... One of the movie's main themes is that Dillinger lives for the moment, unwilling or unable to consider the future, and with little use for the past. That's Mann's credo as well, and it's what keeps the lengthy Public Enemies in shape. Most scenes come with an intense immediacy, with an effective use of shaky cams and stark lighting, giving chaos an open invitation to rear its ugly head at any time. The bullets are loud and plentiful and when they hit, the blood is not shy about making an exit."
But that's one smooth criminal's opinion. Give us yours!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-03-2009 @ 3:31AM
Mike said...
I like these polls but often I don't see a movie right away, and since I generally seem to follow the cinematical crowd I think a new option should be added, (11 or 0) that says I haven't seen it yet. I don't know how your polls work but there is often a button that just says view results, and maybe you should add that.
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7-03-2009 @ 9:30AM
Chris W said...
All you have to do is hit the vote button to see the results. You don't have to pick an option.
7-03-2009 @ 9:29AM
Jeremy Lacey said...
I really dug it, especially the FBI side of things. I felt it could have been maybe half an hour shorter, but there is no denying Johnny Depp is unbelievably cool.
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7-03-2009 @ 10:15AM
michuk said...
My score: 8/10 "Really Dug It - Yeah!"
My review on my Filmaster film blog here: http://michuk.filmaster.com/review/public-enemies-are-just-regular-fellows/
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7-03-2009 @ 11:46AM
Tallmofo said...
This movie was...alright. I felt that the movie was going in a bunch of directions...if Mann was going for chaos..then he just dropped a bomb on the script and side plots were scattered everywhere. Bale was alright, Depp was good, sound is pretty realistic--as in, if my ear were next to a gun firing-this is what it would sound like. ( I felt my eardrums were gonna pop with the amount of gunfire going on)
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7-06-2009 @ 1:54PM
Matt said...
I really wanted this to be good, I love all the main actors in it and small rolls for characters like Giovanni Ribisi, Leelee Sobieski, and Stephen Dorff, but the movie really fell flat for me. I hate the shakey cam, and the story just didn't have any umph, any heart. Really disspointing.
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8-04-2009 @ 11:35PM
Marcus said...
I agree with Matt. I had higher expectations. The storyline and the characters were just nothing special at all. I don't know why they got Johnny Depp to play Dillinger. They could've used anyone. The character is real flat. Johnny Depp is good at playing way out-there characters, don't know why he did this movie. It was just a weak movie, no characters I really hated or loved so I wan't "emotionally attached". Didn't matter to me who lived or died. I could've left the movie half-way through.
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