Public Enemies

I’m not sure what it is about ganster films that seem to excite people so much that boat loads of them get made, yet which also has a tendancy to bore me to tears. Public Enemies is no exception. It was a pretty boring, by-the-numbers ganster film with some, but not a lot, going for it.

I was hoping for some strong performances, but all I had was a pretty good outing from Depp, while Bale was pretty much a non-entity. Marion Cottiard’s character didn’t really do anything for me other than annoy me every once in a while. The production of this film was top-notch however, and did a really good job of recreation the depression era. But really, without a really captiviating story, that doesn’t maen a whole lot.

So parts were very good, such as Dillinger in the theater while everyone else is looking to their right and left to look for criminals, but these moments get bogged down in a sea of monotony. Also, Depp’s performance grew on me more as the movie went on and he was able to turn Dillinger into an actual person. But by that point, it was pretty much too late.

So did I learn something about John Dillinger? Yes, I suppose I did. Was I entertained along the way? Not very. The movie was not very exciting, and when a movie is boring, the one thing that will make it worse it that it is also long. And this was both boring and long. It was respectable, just not very exciting or interesting or new.

6/10