Public Enemies (6/10)

With a film directed by Michael Mann that starred Johnny Depp as a smooth bank robber and Christian Bale as the law enforcer, there was a strong appeal here right from the start. Unfortunately the film never really lived up those potentials.

Much was to be blamed on the screenplay by Mann and his co-writers, Ronan Bennett and Ann Biderman. There's a lot going on in the movie but there's not enough of each.

There were enough bank robberies and enough prison breaks but the scenes flew by too quickly without much detail of what has happened. Some characters were introduced and then they disappear, only to come back an hour later with a few lines and then disappear again.

The love story between Dillinger and Frechette is unconvincing and the chemistry between Depp and Cotillard suffered as a result. A big part of Dillinger’s actions in the second half of the movie derived from his love for Frechette, but the audience will find it hard to relate because there was never any romance involved. All that transpired was Dillinger seeing Frechette and fell madly in love with her, that's it.

And the story development for the entire movie was also weak. There was almost never a flow in the story and its characters. Things happened sometimes very randomly, as if Mann was really struggling to keep time even with 140 minutes, so he has to skip a few developing scenes.

Having said that, however, Mann did well in directing; particularly with the action sequences that were big and explosive but never out of reality. Working once again with cinematographer Dante Spinotti, the feel of the 1930s was ever dominant and ever real.

Depp once again delivered, though it felt like the script restricted his performance somewhat as he looked like he could have done much more. The only breakout performance was by Stephen Lang as the ruthless and hard lawman determined to shoot down Dillinger. He doesn't have a lot of scenes but he stood out in every single one of them.

Cotillard fresh off her Oscar win did nothing here to show why she's a winner. And this is the third movie in a row for Bale to under-deliver with the stoic and robotic Purvis.

But the thing that lacked the most in a movie that tells the story of larger-than-life characters was the story of the characters and why they mattered. Public Enemies should have been much more than this.