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Public Enemies (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:237
Fresh:159
Rotten:78
Average Rating:6.3/10
Consensus: Michael Mann's latest is a competent and technically impressive gangster flick with charismatic lead performances, but some may find the film lacks truly compelling drama.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for gangster violence and some language.
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Jul 1, 2009 Wide
Box Office: $97,030,725
Synopsis: Johnny Depp and Christian Bale emerge from two of the biggest blockbuster series of all time (Pirates of the Caribbean and Batman, respectively) to star in this crime drama from HEAT director... Johnny Depp and Christian Bale emerge from two of the biggest blockbuster series of all time (Pirates of the Caribbean and Batman, respectively) to star in this crime drama from HEAT director Michael Mann. Depp stars as charismatic 1930s gangster John Dillinger, whose notorious bank robberies have turned him into a celebrity during the Depression era. The rise in crime has J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) desperate to have his newly created FBI take down gangsters such as Dillinger, "Pretty Boy" Floyd (Channing Tatum), and "Baby Face" Nelson (Stephen Graham). Enter Agent Melvin Purvis (Bale), an ambitious crimefighter sent to Chicago to capture Dillinger and his gang. The criminal has evaded the law before, but he is drawn to the Second City by the beautiful Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard). Though PUBLIC ENEMIES boasts big names, it feels more like an arthouse offering than a typical gangster picture. With its intimately shot violence and 1930s setting, the film is more BONNIE AND CLYDE than GOODFELLAS. Mann and director of photography Dante Spinotti alternate between hand-held, high-quality digital cameras and more traditional film stock, giving this crime drama a carefully composed, thoroughly modern look. But the casting of the leads is vintage Hollywood: Depp could be the modern incarnation of silent star Rudolph Valentino, and Cotillard’s wide-eyed beauty--and talent--would fit right in with the starlets of the golden age. Everyone else, including Bale, fades into the background, but it’s hard to complain when Depp and Cotillard give such magnetic performances. [More]
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Jason Clarke
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Jason Clarke, Rory Cochrane, Billy Crudup, Stephen Dorff, Stephen Lang, John Ortiz, Giovanni Ribisi, David Wenham, John Michael Bolger, Bill Camp, Matt Craven, Emilie de Ravin, Don Frye, Spencer Garrett, Shawn Hatosy, Peter Gerety, Stephen Graham
Director: Michael Mann
Director: Michael Mann
Screenwriter: Ronan Bennett, Michael Mann, Ann Biderman
Producer: Kevin Misher, Michael Mann
Composer: Elliot Goldenthal
Studio: Universal Pictures
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Reviews for Public Enemies
Michael Mann, director of Public Enemies has capped an extremely impressive decade of work with a movie that approaches greatness but just misses.
The popular reaction to what the defiant anti-hero came to represent in depression-era America made it almost criminal to call him one.
...a thinking man's gangster movie. While there's plenty of action for those looking for a shoot-'em-up, it's a decidedly cold-blooded affair
You can put together all the elements that should create gold and yet without that charmed, mysterious sprinkle of cinematic pixie dust, the alchemy fails to work.
By the time director Michael Mann gets around to making clear his intention of creating a throwback to Hollywood gangster films of the '30s, "Public Enemies" has long since worn out its welcome.
Like Dillinger, Mann and his jangly camera live for the moment. If Public Enemies doesn't cut it as history or mythologising, it succeeds staggeringly well as a series of set pieces.
I'd say this is Mann's best film since The Insiders. Or maybe even The Last of the Mohicans. Now there's glory.
Public Enemies finds [Mann] a bit slower on his feet. The film lacks the narrative dexterity of Collateral and The Insider. And the end result veers between solid and stolid.
A triumph of pure cinema, Public Enemies is one of the most visually experimental films of Mann’s career.
Mann and his writers recount Dillinger's story clearly and with more historical accuracy than some of the earlier film versions, but you're left wondering, "So what?"
There’s a lot to admire, but it’s not up to the standard of Mann’s, or Depp’s, best work.
Director Michael Mann’s return to crime is a breathtaking gangster movie shot in unusual though spectacular digital high definition.
Over 140 minutes that genuinely fly by, Mann crafts a highly atmospheric and emotion-charged movie experience that is sure to be remembered as a touchstone release of 2009.
Best of all, Mann and his cast achieve a grim atmosphere of fatal inevitability as the net slowly tightens around Dillinger and his free-wheeling criminal cohorts.
Certainly worth a look, but you might feel that Mann keeps his characters, apart from Billie, at arm's length.
Depp and Bale as Dillinger and the FBI agent tracking him are excellent and the film is a consistently entertaining, thoughtful and high paced ride, that Dillinger actually did the more extraordinary actions portrayed is the only way their inclusion in a
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