Public Enemies

This has to be the WORST summer for movies and entertainment. I find myself finding zero movies that are coming out that I want to see, no new DVD releases that I am interested in seeing (I just rented Cuba Gooding in The Devil's Tomb to play in the background while I answer email), and nothing on TV (I am watching Wipeout and Superstars and falling asleep while they are on). What is going on? Sad to say that the Michael Jackson 24/7 coverage has been the only interesting thing to watch.
With that lets get into Public Enemies. In 2 words, “it’s weak”. Michael Mann has been a favorite of mine since Miami Vice and his film Collateral with Tom Cruise was a cool urban drama. With Public Enemies you get the attention to detail in the shootouts that Mann is known for but you really don’t care about the characters. Why? Because when we first see Dillinger (Johnny Depp) on the screen he is already a gangster and the audience has no idea why he became one or why he pursued a life of crime.
The movie covers Dillinger’s life similar to the (2) previous John Dillinger movies (Dillinger, 1945 starred then Pretty Boy Lawrence Tierney. Check him out in 1992's Reservoir Dogs and see how time destroyed his looks. The other Dillinger movie was made in 1973 and made a star of Warren Oates). Nothing-new here. Depp does a good job with what he is given which isn’t much. I ended up renting the old Dillinger movies and guess what? They were dated but better.
During this 3rd remake I started thinking about why prior gangster movies like the Untouchables were so much better than this. The reason: The Untouchables had heart, this doesn’t.
Now look at this cast: James Russo, who was a great bad guy in the 80’s, Channing Tatum (per People magazine the new Bruce Willis), Stephen Dorff, Christian Bale (Batman), Giovanni Ribisi (from Boiler Room), Billy Crudup (the one time new James Dean), and Academy Award winner for Best Actress Marion Cotillard are in this movie. You would expect a cool movie right, wrong. Their talents are all wasted here. In fact I forgot most of them were in it.

Verdict: I saw this movie when it came out and I just now decided to write about it. That should tell you something. The trailer was WAY better than the movie. If you are a die-hard Depp fan, and you need to see him, wait for Alice In Wonderland coming this fall.