Public Enemies
2009 Directed by Michael Mann
Synopsis
America's Most Wanted.
In the shadow of the Great Depression, criminal minds are thriving -- notorious men such as John Dillinger, "Baby Face" Nelson and "Pretty Boy" Floyd -- and it's up to J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI to bring them down in this gritty crime drama.
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Michael Mann has succeeded in something very few directors managed to do. Make Johnny Depp boring.
A film about such a rich period of American history should be filled to the brim with excitement, littered with larger than life characters and transport us to an era gone by.
In the latter it succeeds, in the rest it fails miserably. I appreciate the attention to detail in the production design, everything looks stunning. No problems there.
Where it falters is in its plot and the characters that inhabit it. Everything is so pedantic and shallow, which is in fact the exact opposite of its source material. Dillinger is an iconic character, one I was eager to get acquainted with, but here…
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If I had to sum up 'Public Enemies' with a noise, it would be 'eh'. It's such an ugly and mostly uninteresting film that it doesn't really deserve much more. Despite some redeeming scenes during back-end of the film, I was left cold and bored for the majority of the run-time.
This is a really ugly film. Whereas 'Casino' found beauty despite the guady clothing and tasteless decor of the '70s, 'Public Enemies' presents the timelessly stylish suits and cars of the '30s and then ruins it all by being shot almost exclusively in shaky-cam. Michael Mann's phobia of a still frame is by far the worst thing about this film, making it relentlessly…
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"We're having too good a time today. We ain't thinking about tomorrow."
Another film that I think is underrated but everyone else just thinks is just bad (which means it probably is bad), this is, out of the handful of gangster movies I've seen, one hell of a stylish one. Seriously, everything about this film looks amazing. There's the camerawork - even though it does occasionally slip into looking like you're watching a TV movie, Johnny Depp looking like cool personified and the whole production design in general, brilliantly recreating 30's Chicago.
Speaking of Johnny Depp, the entire cast is great as well. You've got him turning in a great performance as the conflicted gangster, Christian Bale as essentially Prohibition-Batman and Marion Cotillard as the girl suddenly drawn into Dillinger's life of crime.
Oh, and that soundtrack. And those bank-robbing scenes. Just amazing. -
No. 1 Reason why I loved it :
Johnny Depp. For once he looks what he actually looks like in real life. And he looks amazing. The amount of allure and charm he brings to the character is monumental.
No.2 Reason why I loved it :The cinematography and the sound quality. The concurrent usage of digital as well as hand held camera was truly awesome. The pictures looked crisp and beautiful and the gunshots still resonate in my ears like a Beethoven symphony.
No.3 Reason why I loved it:"Bye-bye, blackbird".
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This film falls short of expectation for me on two crucial points: There's not a single stand-out memorable moment in it's 2-hours-plus running time, it's all a bit too straight forward; the use of hand held digital ruined the look and any atmosphere the preceding (I assume) 35mm traditionally shot scenes had created.
Brave experiment using both formats which falls flat and took me out of the movie, I may be being precious but the effect was totally jarring. Sorry Mr Mann. Sir. -
failure to adapt. Dillinger fights his obsolescence while the movie around him has evolved. analog gives way to digital.
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Me gusta la cancioncilla esa que sale en la película.
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The first time I watched this, I was bored. I think I even dozed off a few times. The second time I watched it I realised that my 2009 self was an idiot, and 2013 Luke is the best! Michael Mann doesn't make small films, and Public Enemies is no exception. Meticulously crafted, slathered in beautiful '30s Chicago period detail, this feels like Heat: The Depression Years. Which is no bad thing. John Dillenger is the cool criminal, robbing banks and becoming a folk hero to the down-trodded, economically destitute masses, while Melvin Purvis (Bale) is the head of J.Edgar Hoover's G-Men, on the trail of Dillenger and co. The two rarely share the screen, much like Heat. Johnny Depp…
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No. 1 Reason why I loved it :
Johnny Depp. For once he looks what he actually looks like in real life. And he looks amazing. The amount of allure and charm he brings to the character is monumental.
No.2 Reason why I loved it :The cinematography and the sound quality. The concurrent usage of digital as well as hand held camera was truly awesome. The pictures looked crisp and beautiful and the gunshots still resonate in my ears like a Beethoven symphony.
No.3 Reason why I loved it:"Bye-bye, blackbird".
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Johnny Depp portrays John Dillinger better than anybody else could have possibly done. This movie, based on a true story, is excellent.
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True life story about a bank robber in 1930's America. Had potential, but was less than the sum of it's parts. 6/10.
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If I had to sum up 'Public Enemies' with a noise, it would be 'eh'. It's such an ugly and mostly uninteresting film that it doesn't really deserve much more. Despite some redeeming scenes during back-end of the film, I was left cold and bored for the majority of the run-time.
This is a really ugly film. Whereas 'Casino' found beauty despite the guady clothing and tasteless decor of the '70s, 'Public Enemies' presents the timelessly stylish suits and cars of the '30s and then ruins it all by being shot almost exclusively in shaky-cam. Michael Mann's phobia of a still frame is by far the worst thing about this film, making it relentlessly…
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It had everything set up for it. A great true story, good actors, a look that was perfect 30's gangster film; IT WAS JUST SO UN-FORFILLING. There was about 5 scenes max that I cared about. Its from the point of view of the "bad guys but doesn't let us into their world or show us why or what they do in anymore detail than the basics. It just was wooden, the performances were static and the story just moved along without any reason. It doesn't have that style or that "thing" going on in it that even the most basic films of this type do, Gangster Squad was better just because it was more fun.
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The boom of crime and the response of the different police force in America during the great depressions is an absolutely fascinating story. One of the aspects I particularly like is the response of the public to the different criminals. One of the more fascinating is the reaction to John Dillinger.
Unfortunately, Public Enemies doesn't really run with that at all. What it does, instead, is some sort of attempted Biopic of the man and his subsequent arrests and murder by FBI. Sometimes life is stranger than fiction, but here it's just an absolute bore.
It's not that the film doesn't have some good performances, personally I really like Johnny Depp when he turns in a performance that doesn't require…
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Not to be confused with Pubic Enema, which is not only a VERY different film but also a pretty bad way to try and clean out the ole' pipes.