Movie Summary of Public Enemies by Michael The Moviegoer.
PUBLIC ENEMIES = *
“Sleeping With The Enemy”
John Dillinger was once considered the deadliest gangster in America. But in “Public Enemies” Johnny Depp portrays him as just deadly dull. In Michael Mann’s new film all the actors are as stiff and lifeless as zombies.
Making matters worse, the film is more than 2 hours of extremely jerky hand-held camera work. A shoot-out in a forest at night is so dark we can’t even tell who is shooting and who is being shot. Now I know what a ball in a pinball machine feels like.
Oddly, this movie has more talk than action, but with laughably bad dialogue. During a bank robbery Johnny Depp says something like “you can die a hero or live as a coward”. The audience laughed. This makes Arnold Schwarzenegger’s movie dialogue sound like Shakespeare by comparison.
Christian Bale speaks with a bad southern accent, even though Chicago is in the midwest, not the south. Marion Cotillard (an Oscar-winner for “La Vie En Rose”) has no chemistry at all with Johnny Depp. Her best moments are her scenes without Depp.
In 1973’s “Dillinger”, Warren Oates played the infamous gangster in a film that was much more lively, fun and cinematic. The true story of “Public Enemies” plays out during the great depression. Yep, that’s just how I felt.
DVD Companion: To see how to do this sort of movie the right way, check out Brian DePalma’s 1987 masterpiece “The Untouchables”. Writing by David Mamet, a hauntingly beautiful score by Ennio Morricone, stunning photography by Stephen H. Burum, and a much-deserved Oscar-winning performance by Sean Connery. It stars Kevin Costner as a federal agent on the trail of Chicago’s notorious gangster Al Capone, perfectly played by Robert DeNiro.
Michael The Moviegoer
