Public Enemies (2009)

All Critics (260) | Top Critics (46) | Fresh (178) | Rotten (86) | DVD (9)

I do think this is a film worth seeing, so obviously, I say see it.

July 6, 2009 Full Review | Comment (1)

Ben Mankiewicz

At the Movies

Top Critic

Some strong performances, but I expected more from this great director and stellar cast.

July 6, 2009 Full Review | Comment (1)

Ben Lyons

At the Movies

Top Critic

If John Dillinger had not existed... Michael Mann would have had to invent him.

July 3, 2009 Full Review

Christopher Orr

The New Republic

Top Critic

It's a fascinating moment in history, and Mann captures the cars, the guns and the buildings with painstaking, immersive authenticity.

July 3, 2009 Full Review | Comment (1)

Trevor Johnston

Time Out

Top Critic

It tills the old ground, albeit with new-style star power and Mann's signature cinematic flourishes. But Depp is unduly subdued and Mann's cape work is oversold.

July 3, 2009 Full Review

Peter Rainer

Christian Science Monitor

Top Critic

Our connections with Public Enemies remain abstract. The darkness and the distance kill the fun.

July 2, 2009 Full Review | Comments (5)

Joe Morgenstern

Wall Street Journal

Top Critic

It's looking more and more like Michael Mann will never be able to recapture that Heat hotness.

September 29, 2012 Full Review

Ali Gray

TheShiznit.co.uk

Instead of glamorizing the early 20th century thug life, it humanizes it a little too much. This drags the movie down and is not the reason I like to go see gangster movies.

July 21, 2012 Full Review

Kevin Carr

7M Pictures

Adheres to the historical facts of Dillinger's well-documented tapestry of brazen daylight heists, gritty shootouts and improbable jailbreaks.

September 29, 2011 Full Review

Neil Pond

American Profile

Burrows deeply into the depths of the Great Depression.

August 26, 2011 Full Review

Kelly Vance

East Bay Express

Once Mann is done establishing his characters the film begins to get down to the most interesting element he brings to the project: the saddening decline of a giant.

March 1, 2011 Full Review

Mike Edwards

What Culture

... meanders and never delivers the pay-off it promises.

February 1, 2011 Full Review

Matt Kelemen

Las Vegas CityLife

Lawmen and outlaws collide in Mann's stylish, brutal drama.

December 29, 2010 Full Review

Don Groves

sbs.com.au

If only Mann's obsession with technical perfection extended to drafting screenplays.

October 27, 2010 Full Review

Simon Miraudo

Quickflix

Public Enemies is a thoroughly detailed and engaging crime epic, which traces the criminal exploits and pursuit of infamous gangster, John Dillinger.

July 6, 2010 Full Review

Matthew Pejkovic

Matt's Movie Reviews

Mann seems undecided about what he wants Enemies to accomplish, so he tries a little bit of everything.

July 6, 2010 Full Review

Peter Keough

Boston Phoenix

Public Enemies is an enjoyable experience but it feels like it could have been a whole lot more and another gangster classic.

April 15, 2010 Full Review

Sam Bathe

Fan The Fire

An action-heavy thriller so consistently barebones and lacking in any truly subversive thrust, and with mere peripheral vision of the historical moment, that the guns and clothes have more personality than the people.

December 19, 2009 Full Review

Prairie Miller

NewsBlaze

A lesson in how watching a man in front of the camera hit his mark can make one wish the man behind the camera had such true aim.

December 17, 2009 Full Review | Comments (2)

William Goss

Orlando Weekly

Feels like experimental filmmaking and never seems to transcend that to something more profound or awe-inspiring.

December 13, 2009 Full Review

Jeffrey Chen

Window to the Movies

Depp's performance overcomes every flaw in the film. He ends up playing Dillinger exactly as he should be--suave, mysterious, romantic, but with obvious elements of cruelty and unbridled violence.

December 11, 2009 Full Review

Christopher Smith

Bangor Daily News (Maine)

Depp scores as Depression-era robber, but lots of violence.

December 6, 2009 Full Review

James Rocchi

Common Sense Media

Hyper-romanticized revisionist history reflecting America's ongoing love affair with gangsters.

December 3, 2009 Full Review

Kam Williams

Sly Fox

Not to say this is not a well-crafted movie with excellent performances. It is. It is also curiously one-sided and shallow like many movies about famous outlaws tend to be.

November 5, 2009 Full Review

Robert Roten

Laramie Movie Scope

• 1. John Dillinger: My ass.
  – Submitted by Johann L (4 months ago)
• 1. John Dillinger: We're having too good a time today. We ain't thinking about tomorrow.
  – Submitted by Michael R (5 months ago)
• 1. John Dillinger: Bye-bye, blackbird.
  – Submitted by Josie R (10 months ago)
• 1. John Dillinger: [nodding at money left by a bank teller in front of his booth] You can put it away. Not here for your money. Here for the bank's money.
  – Submitted by Josie R (10 months ago)
• 1. John Dillinger: [approaching group of police officers] What's the score?
  – Submitted by Josie R (10 months ago)
• 1. John Dillinger: You act like a confident man, Mr. Purvis. Ya got a few qualities. Probly pretty good from a distance, especially when ya got the fella out-numbered. But up-close, toe-to-toe, when somebody's about to die right here, right now... I'm used to that.
  – Submitted by Kevin M (21 months ago)

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