Public Enemies

Directed by Michael Mann who directed some masterpieces like Collateral, Ali, The Insider, HEAT and my fav The Last of The Mohicans (w00t DDL), Public Enemies had some tremendous buzz going for it. Why? you ask me, I reply Why the hell not! Johnny Depp & Christian Bale pitted against each other. Johnny Depp stars as "publicly loved" Bank Robber John Dillinger in this period flick set during the 1930's during the Depression. Christian Bale is the man with the task of hunting him down, Bureau of Investigation (before it became the FBI, state wise) Special Agent Melvin Purvis. Assigned the job by Director J. Edgar Hoover after whom the FBI headquarters is named (I believe).

The first thing you notice about the movie is the color tone used to shoot the movie. It gives the movie an additional character of being dark and brooding. Also noticable is the very documentary style of shooting. The way the camera moves, its a treat to watch. Every detail was worked on and i have to hand it to the production team to recreate america of the 1930's. They did a phenomenal job.

*edit: Just learnt that some portions were shot in High Def. I thought that some scenes were different. Hmm guess i do have a keen sense of observation!!

Johnny Depp as usual pulls off the roll with ease. Its what he does best. Slips into the skin of the character and you can't help but root for him. Even in this movie, he's a gangster but i was rooting for him all the way. He's cool, he's composed, he knows what he is doing. Christian Bale for once doesn't talk in a growl like in the Batman movies or Terminator. He was above average, not his best showing though. I think American Psycho was his best performance till date. Its understandable though, coz the movie is centered around John Dillinger. Nonetheless, he adds value to the movie with his "I am gonna get him" speeches and looks. Marion Cotillard plays JD's love interest. Very nicely potrayed considering it was but a small role, yet very pertinent to the story.

The soundtrack is oldschool and very very good. You can help but love the music played when robbing the bank. I am gonna post the video here for you all to enjoy!

Some of the things i wasn't really happy about. Main thing was the pace of the movie. Seems a tad bit slow and slightly long. Over two hours. Sometimes the heavily accented dialogues were hard to make out (although the theatre seemed to have some issues too). My retard friend (say it like in the hangover) tells me that he saw the making and that one of the actors was charlize theron. He kept insisting throughout the movie and that drove me up the wall. SHE IS NOT IN THE MOVIE!

There are quite a few exciting scenes in the movie. I won't give them away or else the thrill will be lost but believe you me, if JD did what was potrayed on screen he had some kahuna's. Respect!

4 out of 5 stars in my book. 2 stars are for Johnny Depp itself. He carries the movie on his shoulders with ease. Paraphrasing Will Smith i gotta say "he makes this look good"

Cheers

p.s. i deleted my last post coz the account on youtube where the trailers were uploaded was suspended