Review of Public Enemies (2009) by Dwilly — 05 Jul 2009

Oh, how the mighty Michael Mann has fallen. Outside the theater, I ran into the great writer/director Robert Towne who, when I asked if he liked the film, said: "No. And I have to take some time to think about what's happened to movies.

" I volunteered that I thought it had something to do with the making of a virtue out of dispassion. In any case, this movie is dull. Johhny Depp is not at all suited to play this kind of part, and I found myself during his scenes much more fascinated that the filmmakers would think, shot as it is in High Def video, that it would be acceptable for us to plainly see he's wearing make up.

Christian Bale is dreadful. I'd love if he could perform in anything with a pinky's worth of the intensity of feeling he shows when going after a crew member or his mother and sister. The action had very few touches, just lots of Tommy guns blasting without much effect, and, all around, was pretty much pointless: nothing about how hard economics evokes a certain personality trait, or that some men take badly to authority or they love thrills or that even if we want to see those old days as quaint, they were in fact brutal.

Just blah, blah, bang.