Review: Public Enemies (2009)

[Scott Mendelson]

Public Enemies
2009
140 minutes
Rated R

By Scott Mendelson

I'm not among those who thinks that Michael Mann walks on water, but
I've never been outright bored by any of his pictures until today. No,
I didn't care for the HD video (it occasionally resembled those
straight-to-DVD horror titles that Lionsgate used to put out). And,
when I'm paying for a first-run movie ticket on opening weekend, I
should not have to struggle to hear important expository dialogue even
while wearing my hearing aids (this may be the world's first big-
budget mumblecore action drama).

Johnny Depp gives one of his most boring performances, with next to no
charm or charisma that would explain why the masses were so willing to
protect John Dillenger back in the day. And, yes the film is way too-
long at 140 minutes. This may be heresy in the critical community, but
Michael Mann needs to learn to get his action-dramas down to 125
minutes or less (Collateral and Manhunter wouldn't have worked at 140
minutes either). This is decidedly not an epic story, so it does not
benefit from a near-epic running time.

And the digital video left me often wondering who was shooting at whom
(especially during an otherwise tense and well-choreographed night
time shoot-out). Sad to say, I had no better luck telling who was who
than I did during Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. But the two
biggest problems are simple ones. First of all, and this relates to my
feelings on Mann's Ali, is that I learned nothing about John
Dillinger. I don't demand that a historical film be a glorified book
report, but I'd like to leave a film knowing a little more about the
person than I did when I went in.

Second of all is that this film is primarily about John Dillenger.
Don't let the trailers fool you, Christian Bale's pursuing federal
agent has far less screen-time than Depp. That would be fine and
dandy, except the material focusing on Bale's attempts to catch
Dillinger in the earliest days of the FBI is far more entertaining and
interesting than Depp's routine 'outlaw on the run' story arc. This is
generally a slow, uneventful, uninsightful movie that is punctuated
only by a few solid action beats. This isn't Heat. Heck, this isn't
even the underrated Miami Vice.

Grade: C