Public Enemies

[samsong]

an engrossing, enjoyable gangster movie that fails to capitalize on any of its substantive and potential-brimming subtext, really the only thing between public enemies being a good movie and a great film.  either way, this is fantastically entertaining and a truly impressive bit of filmmaking, technically speaking.  despite the occasional blow-out, the use of digital to photograph a period piece is entirely successful.  it's immersive and allows for a deeper appreciation for the attention to detail; it also helps that mann's characteristically strong visual sense (immaculate compositions, great movement) is at top speed here.  the sound, treatment of violence, the shoot-outs/various criminal set pieces, all spot on.  depp's performance is slightly undercooked (though he achieves the "cool" thing throughout) and marion cotillard (as beautiful as ever) is good if a bit ham-fisted in spots.  bale is fine, crudup's hoover is bizarre and pretty absent.  loved the goons on both sides of the law, all of whom look perfect for their respective roles.

good summer movie.  i had fun.

[tpfkabi]

57% on Rotten Tomatoes?

This is the first movie that's looked interesting enough that I have considered trying to see it, so that low of a rating is disappointing. It's only a little better than Miami Vice which I didn't digg.

[I Love a Magician]

one word review: turgid

more word review: there was nothing interesting in this movie. they put so much emphasis on the relationship between dillinger and his girl, but there was no reason to care about anything that happened between them. i watched punch-drunk love last night and the relationships are similar in how they come out of nowhere and are instantly these all-consuming things for the characters involved. it works in PDL because the characters are human and have things to grab onto while dillinger is a Suave Crook (there's really no depth to him at all) and the girl is Pretty Girl that he wants to take along.

movie was really disappointing overall though, especially since i've been on a big michael mann kick lately. the music was predictable and insipid, the digital cameras are very unsympathetic and just look terrible at times, and i just didn't give a shit about anything that was happening.

the only thing i'd say i actually liked was bale's performance and that might just be because i was happy to see him not rocking the Batman Voice.

SPOILS

did anyone else think that dillinger was gunned down in the field along with babyface nelson after the big chase through the woods and all that? looked just like him, down to the clothes and everything. but there he is in the next scene, just humming along.

[MacGuffin]

Music a major player in Mann movies
Composer Goldenthal settles the score
Source: Variety

Any new Michael Mann film automatically draws attention for its music.

Twenty-five years ago, he revolutionized television scoring with a groundbreaking mix of popular songs and synthesized music on "Miami Vice," and his films have offered surprising composer choices (Tangerine Dream for "Thief," Lisa Gerrard on "Ali") or generated hit albums ("Last of the Mohicans").

Thirteen years after their collaboration on "Heat," the perfectionist filmmaker was reunited with New York composer Elliot Goldenthal for the score of "Public Enemies," which chronicles John Dillinger's bank-robbing rampage in the Depression-era Midwest and the efforts of G-Man Melvin Purvis to track him down.

Mann "has a propensity to change his mind through the whole experience," Goldenthal said. "For some people it can be frustrating, even Kafkaesque. Knowing that's the way he is, I realized what the job would entail."

As on "Heat," in which the composer was recruited during pre-production "to experiment and create alternative ways of exploring a caper movie," Goldenthal was again brought in early on "Enemies," this time to arrange and produce Diana Krall's sultry take on the standard "Bye Bye Blackbird." The popular jazz artist sings the song, which assumes added dimension in the film's coda, on camera as Dillinger (Johnny Depp) dances with Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) in a Chicago nightclub.

As for underscore, Goldenthal decided to let the film's songs -- including several by Billie Holiday and the film's unofficial anthem, "Ten Million Slaves," by Chicago bluesman Otis Taylor -- set up the period. "That freed me up to approach the score purely in dramatic terms," he said. "The challenge was to create a musical fabric (in which the audience) could accept Dillinger as an icon."

Key moments for the composer's big Dillinger theme, played by a 90-piece orchestra, occurred during the airplane trip on which a captured Dillinger awaits his fate and later when his girlfriend is arrested. "The first time, it's triumphant; the second time it's almost smotheringly claustrophobic," Goldenthal said.

What was out of Goldenthal's hands were Mann's choices of unrelated film music to play at various other moments in "Public Enemies" -- including snippets of Gustavo Santaolalla's "Things We Lost in the Fire," Hans Zimmer's "The Thin Red Line" and even Goldenthal's own music for "Heat."

"I haven't seen the movie, so I have no idea what he put on," Goldenthal said. "But when directors find something perfect, they just license it. There's nothing wrong with that."

[B.C. Long]

Strong beginning. Strong Ending. Everything else in between is pretty "meh". I'd have to agree with Magician on this one. Totally uninteresting and bland. Miami Vice and Public Enemies have a lot in common as far how completely lifeless and bland they are.

Bottom Line: What a waste of talent. On all accounts. But I think this had the potential to be pretty solid which makes the experience of watching it even more aggravating.

That's two strikes Mr. Mann. You have one more.

p.s. I'd much rather of this been made by Scorsese. With all the same cast, but a more engaging script.

[tpfkabi]

there's no Audioslave tracks on this is there?

i think he had them on Collateral and Miami Vice - though i may be wrong.

[B.C. Long]

That is the only thing I HATED about Collateral. The stupid audioslave track. It's funny because wasn't Collateral the first film he shot all digitally? I thought that was pretty solid. It's just gone downhill from there.

[tpfkabi]

It's funny because wasn't Collateral the first film he shot all digitally?

To my knowledge it was.
Some of his music choices really took me out of the films - Audioslave especially.

If he marries that with period film with PE then I think that would really take me out of it.

Thank God PT handled Blood well - not a ton of cursing or any pop music.

[B.C. Long]

If he marries that with period film with PE then I think that would really take me out of it.

Well he did have a modern song that was suppose to sound vintage. But it uses too many electronic loops to really feel like an old song. It's the same song in the trailer and yes it DOES take you right out of the movie.

[modage]

I guess I should have known, but Public Enemies was fairly disappointing considering the talent involved.  While I can admire director Michael Mann wanting to set this film apart from typical period gangster films by shooting digital, it was at times distracting. The camera moved so fast and was frequently so closeup I just wanted Mann to get the camera out of the actors faces and let us see what was going on.  It took nearly half the films 2 1/2 hour running time to really become engaging and by then I had already endured several repetitious bank robberies and awkward love scenes.  But the real problem with this film is that you don't get to know anything about Bale or Depp's characters or why they're doing what they're doing.  It's the same problem I have with most biopics, adhering to real characters & events is not always dramatically satisfying.

[Stefen]

Everything I've seen from the previews and trailers points to the film looking cheap which is fine since isn't the point of digital to be cheaper? Taking that into account, how did this cost so much to make?

[Kal]

Everything I've seen from the previews and trailers points to the film looking cheap which is fine since isn't the point of digital to be cheaper? Taking that into account, how did this cost so much to make?

Inflated salaries and inflated egos delaying production

[pete]

digital has never claimed to be cheaper; it saves production time in some aspects though.

[Neil]

Loud ass gun shots.   Lack luster period detail, and just a piss poor effort in most areas. -$9.00

[Alexandro]

I think most opinions here have been rushed and too quick to come about. Every Mann film requires repeated viewings, because he so often is making a different film than the one is apparently showing.

I remember how The Insider was marketed as this political, tobacco industry denouncement film, which I guess was on a certain level, but listening to Mann talking about it, it becomes clear he had other thing in his head. Then you watch the movie again and you realise he's not that interested in that aspect of the story as he is in the soul of each individual character, and an inner exploration of his soul, but he never does this in the traditional way. Accordingly, Ali is a very unconventional biopic, and Collateral has undertones and subtexts that become apparent only in the smallest details. Miami Vice is another example, but I'll grant that film had some miscalculations.

Public Enemies has also that element. Mann is not even attempting to explain the personality of John Dillinger, it is just there. He does the same with Purvis. I think Depp is way more effective in his performance because with the bits and pieces you get as an audience he really creates a full character here. It's a solid combination of him being a charming leading man in the old hollywood way and also a character actor. The film itself is like that, because the whole approach is very classical yet new at the same time, it is both traditional and experimental. I'm pretty sure a second viewing will shed light in many other details and nuances this film has, particularly in Depp's performance.

The film makes a lot of emphasis in Dillinger's love relationship, yes, but look at it closely, it's hardly more than 20 minutes in a 2 hours plus film. Which illustrates how good the chemistry between Depp and Cotillard was, you constantly feel this need in Dillinger to go back to her, without necessarily mention it. You know it. Probably the best scene in the film is the one where they meet. If that scene don't work nothing else works.

I wasn't bothered at all by the cinematography. In fact it looks beautiful. But technology aside, the visual style it's impressive. There are a bunch of complex action scenes that in a way repeat events but the sequences themselves are never repetitive. It seemed to me each bank robbery had it's own way of developing visually, even if the proceedings of the bank robbery itself were the same. The sequence in the woods was particularly impressive and exciting. In fact it was so good that the rest of the film felt a little like an anticlimax.

No that this is a flawless movie in my view. I was expecting a bigger exploration of Bale's characters demoralization as he gets tougher in his investigation, though now that I think about it, that would have been like watching The Dark Knight all over again. The final sequences had an odd feeling to them that I'm not sure worked. After the woods, the film seemed to drag unnecessarily. and (SPOILERS) it was really weird that they didn't show how the hell Dillinger contacted Cotillard to pick her up outside her apartment. It felt like a copout.

I for one I'm glad Scorsese didn't do this. I really don't think he has anything else to say on the gangster theme. He would have taken this as a chance to do another homage to old hollywood, using his signature style, and he would have used DiCaprio who I would think couldn't have made as interesting a performance as Depp. Mann on the other hand at least tried to go a different route. And for what I saw it seemed to be working with the packed audience that was with me in the theater. I think Johnny Depp is the real deal in movie stardom, people will follow him anywhere now, these are his golden years as an actor. Not one person in the audience complained about anything, it helped the theatre was in pristine conditions and everything looked and sounded perfect, of course.

The one thing that did bother me in a way, it's that Mann has done this before (I don't know if better or not, or wouldn't say). There are entire sequences here reminiscent of others in Heat and The Insider particularly. But this is a different picture anyway.