There are a million interesting things about 1930s gangster folk hero John Dillinger, from his expert manipulation of the press to his trick of robbing banks and letting the customers keep their money. But somehow Michael Mann, who has made an entire movie about Dillinger, IPublic EnemiesI, seems interested in none of it.... READ THE FULL REVIEW
It was okay, but I definitely see your point. Mann is a very slow filmaker, could've chopped at least 45 minutes. Bale did disappoint me. They didn't really give him anything interesting
This is a good movie, but it's not great and their are some weaknesses. Bale has almost no character, the relationship with the girl is dullsville, and the long set up for the Biograph scene had an odd payoff. It seemed to be more about the fat G-man than Dillinger. Still, it was about as good as Collateral, nowhere close to Heat, unfortunately.
I have to confess that I've tried to watch Heat probably 4 or 5 different times over the years and I've yet to make it all the way through it. Usually at some point I just get so tired of it I quit.
Hmmmm, I just saw this ruckus on Friday and, while maybe it's not the tightest or most well-paced film, I don't really get how you could find it "unfocused." The shittiest biopics are the ones that try to be all-encompassing and whatnot. Problem is, of course, you can't condense a person's life into like two hours. Public Enemies, to its credit, concentrates on that last fourteen month spree and, instead of jumping around, hits consistently on the couple of main themes it's trying to hit on. Like him or not, Mann knows what he's doing. Along with maybe The Assassination of Jesse James or The Proposition, I'd say Public Enemies is a first class clinic on the trappings of celebrity, the deconstruction of heroes/villains, the misplaced mythologizing of those same heroes/villains and the role the media plays in all that jazz.The movie dragged for me a bit, too, but it was effective and I definitely liked it. And I dig it the more I think about it, which is always a good sign
I do agree on Bale, though. He's a solid actor and all, but the guy's been coasting for a few years now. He's the weakest link in a cast full of a million recognizable actors. Depp was great. He's got moments near the end where he does more acting without saying a word than any other actor in Hollywood would ever be able to handle, I think. Cotillard was good, too, even if most of the stuff dealing with Dillinger's romantic side fell a little flat. And Crudup, especially, was the balls
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