PUBLIC ENEMIES
Starring:
-Johnny Depp
-Christian Bale
Directed by: Michael Mann
Screenplay Credits: Ronan Bennett, Ann Biderman, & Michael Mann
MPAA Rating: R – gangster violence and some language
In retrospect, I really should have known that this movie was not going to end happily. Heck, it wasn’t even going to end pleasantly. I’m a smart woman. I should have been able to call that one right off the bat. Sadly, I got a little too invested in the whole doomed romance thing (so sue me, I’m a chick) and ended the movie wanting some chocolate ice cream and a good cuddle. Deep down, I suppose I knew that a love story with that many machine guns would be ill fated, but I’m always on board for seeing a happy couple ride off into the sunset.
I’m not giving this one the standard review because, frankly, this movie was so all over the place that even I’m not entirely certain how everything went down. I know I wasn’t firing on all cylinders when I watched it, so that may have added to the confusion also.
Here is the basic gist. Grumpy FBI agent Melvin Purvis really has his panties in a wad because nobody can catch John Dillinger. Everybody gets really P.O.’ed when Dillinger and a few of his buddies pull off a snazzy jailbreak to free some of their gang. They go on a crime spree robbing banks like nobody’s business and wind up in a hotel where Dillinger meets homely, bug-eyed coat check girl Billie Frenchette. Billie takes up with John and they’ve almost got a Bonnie and Clyde thing going on, but not quite.
Things are looking good for John. He’s got oodles of money and Billie is spread-eagled in the bathtub. Sadly, before we get into any sudsy Johnny Depp action, the feds bust in and start arresting everything with a pulse.
John gets in, breaks out, gets in, breaks out, you know the drill. Finally Billie gets arrested for helping John, and he’s pretty bummed. While the cops are all out investigating a tip, John just walks right into the Dillinger Squad Headquarters and goes around looking at all their surveillance pictures and case information. This is my favorite scene in the movie, and if I ever become a ruthless bank robber, I sincerely hope I have the guts (and the luck!) to go waltzing around unnoticed in plain view.
Inevitably, some Romanian madam sells Dillinger out because the Feds threaten to have her deported. So here comes Johnny out of the movie theatre and wham bam, thank you ma’am, he gets shot in the back of the head. He goes down hard, spurting blood from a tiny hole in his cheek. My pal Orry agrees with me that said goopy blood looked more like KC Masterpiece Barbeque Sauce, but whatever.
On the technical side of things, this film is really dark. I know you’re thinking, “Duh, it’s a gangster movie,” but I‘m not talking about tone, I’m talking lighting. Some scenes actually made me squint.
I couldn’t always understand what was being said, but Depp could have been saying, “Watermelon, watermelon,” over and over again and I wouldn’t have cared because homebody is straight up fine.
It’s also a little confusing because not only does everybody drive the same car, everybody (with the exception of Bale and Depp) actually looks like a roughhousing gangster, and in some scenes it’s nearly impossible to tell the crooks from the cops.
This is more of a personal thing, but I hate films where big hateful men tie women to chairs and slap them around. I know it’s just a movie, but scenes like that upset me in strange ways. I can’t really explain it. I just want to transport myself into the film and go all Lorena Bobbitt on the creep.
I was similarly unimpressed with the big finish. It was sort of… anticlimactic. Here these poor schmucks have been chasing this narcissistic psycho all over the country - he’s outfoxing them at every turn and working that trigger finger like it’s nothing – and when they finally shoot him they just stand around looking at each other going “Now what?”
I did really enjoy the nicknames. Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson were among the coolest I remember hearing. Since seeing this one, I’ve decided that I too need a gangster nickname. I’m open to suggestions, but for now I’ve decided to call myself Legs McCullough.
My enemies better take heed and stay away from dark alleys; Legs is liable to go all Dillinger on them at any moment.
In closing, if I was Johnny Depp, I think I’d just make another pirate movie and see that my freakishly thin French girlfriend gets a bath and a juicy cheeseburger… in that order.
FINAL GRADE: B –
Off in search of cuddly ice cream,
M.
Monday, January 18, 2010
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I enjoyed this one but I have to say I was expecting more. I think that Christian Bale fellow is greatly overrated as an actor.
ReplyDeleteWe agree, my friend. He was not my favorite Batman, either.
ReplyDeleteBale's Batman voice is pretty annoying, he's kinda ok as Bruce Wayne.
ReplyDeleteMicheal Keaton is my favorite Batman.
It goes without saying if this movie made you sad, you shouldnt watch Bonnie and Clyde