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When I first saw ads for Johnny Depp’s Public Enemies, I was intrigued.  The last time I’d seen a good gangster movie was back around The Untouchables.  Bringing the notoriously suicidal Melvin Purvis into things was an interesting stroke, and as we’re all well aware, Johnny Depp is a fine actor who brings class and a compelling performance to whatever he touches.

So why, when I actually saw Public Enemies, was I so spectacularly bored by it?

First, the plot–Johnny Depp plays John Dillenger, one of the most successful and most famous bank robbers of the early twentieth century.  During the height of the Great Depression, Dillenger and his cohorts tackled hundreds of banks.  Of course, when Dillenger wasn’t robbing banks, he was off eating dinner with friends and enjoying his passions in life: baseball, movies, fast cars, good clothes, and recent addition Billie Forchette, a coat check girl from Indiana who’s part Indian.

As the movie continues, Dillenger and Forchette will grow closer together, the world will steadily change around them, and bank robbers will actually become a liability to the mob as new laws threaten their operations in turn. So what will happen, in the end?  Well, you all know exactly what will happen because John Dillenger didn’t live to a ripe old age with his girlfriend in tow in real life.  No sir or ma’am as the case may be–he died, shot to death by police.  And no, that’s not a spoiler, because it actually happened.  If you didn’t already know it going in you can’t accuse people of spoilering for interjecting discussion about real life.

Anyway, the biggest problem with Public Enemies can be summed up by the use of one common gaming term:

LESS QQ, MOAR PEW PEW!

This is the perfect explanation of both what’s wrong with Public Enemies and also how to fix it. For those of you not already familiar with the term, some explanation is in order.  QQ is, essentially, a reference to crying eyes.  Also used to describe things like relationship drama and other similar phenomenon, it’s a derogatory term.  Its converse is “pew pew”, or the sound sci-fi laser weapons make when fired.  It’s essentially an exhortation to action via shaming the target into stopping behavior that’s seen as overemotional and getting their head back in the game.

The biggest problem with Public Enemies is that it focuses so much on the relationship between Dillenger and Forchette that it seems to forget that it’s supposed to be a movie about bank robbers.  Occasionally, Public Enemies will remember its roots, and in these moments makes a downright entertaining movie.  But meanwhile, the movie is so wildly overcommitted to exploring this relationship between two characters that it A. has several other characters available for use and B. was supposed to be an action crime drama, not a romantic drama with occasional bank robbery.

The movie is CALLED Public Enemies, not Two Schmucks Who Fall In Love.

Even worse is that this nightmare of a movie has a run time well in excess of two hours, meaning that the sheer amount of time they’ll spend on the romance aspects will weigh on what little action there is like an anchor around the movie’s neck.

Essentially, this movie is profoundly boring.  Stay away from it unless you’re desperate for a good romantic drama.

I am looking forward to seeing how the weekend box office will unfold with American firecrackers and fireworks popping off this Saturday night.  I have a feeling from the numbers on Wednesday’s opening of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs indicates the weekend will prove fruitful for the mighty moneymaker of Ice Age franchise.  The kids movie scored the best opening on a Wednesday for an animated feature with $13.8 million, beating the previous holder Shrek 2.

We mustn’t forget Michael Mann’s Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, which got off to a promising start. The period gangster movie tallied an estimated $8.2 million as it opened Wednesday, placing third just under Michael Bay’s Transformers 2.

I am pretty sure that come Sunday Ice Age will still be on top while Transformers fights with the John Dillinger movie for second place.

With the summer usually filled with entertaining blockbusters that focus more on fun than anything deeper, it comes as a surprise to see this month see the release of Public Enemies, the story of infamous gangster John Dillinger. But is the film a real insight into a criminal whose reputation lasted far beyond America’s 1930’s, or just another forgettable gangster flick?

The film sees two of Hollywood’s biggest names face off against each other. Johnny Depp plays Dillinger, as we follow him for a year or so of his violent life. He is being pursued by Agent Melvin Purvis (played by Chrsitian Bale), recently assigned head of the FBI, under pressure to catch the criminal due to the FBI’s need to prove itself to gain further funding. Dillinger hooks up with moll Billi Frechette (Marion Coutillard) but finds himself in a changing world, in which his speciality of bank robberies is no longer the priority of the gangster underworld, while the Feds close in.

Directed by Michael Mann, the film feels like either an overlong and restrained action film, or a dramatic thriller that lacks depth. As the former, the film only succeeds in part. Mann has a habit of obsessing over the minutiae of shoot outs while avoiding huge explosions or slow-motion (see Heat). One scene in particular works, in which Dillinger and his cohorts try to flee from the Feds through a forest at night. But most of the time they drag on, the clacking of tommy-guns soon wearing our patience thin. And as a drama the film completely fails, for it is unable to provide any sense of life beneath any of its characters. Read the rest of this entry »

Latin Review posted a wonderful Q&A between Johnny Depp and online Internet sleuth Fred Topel during a press conference today for Michael Mann’s Public Enemies, Depp was asked about playing The Mad Hatter, his upcoming return to the character of Captain Jack Sparrow and playing Tonto in The Lone Ranger. Depp’s answers were very flippant but guarded about  playing these characters. Click Depp’s gun  to read the interview.

Michael Man is one lucky filmmaker to have Johnny Depp and Christian Bale in the same movie.  With Bale coming off the success of  Terminator Salvation gives Public Enemies even more exposure to the Bale’s fans. I am curious if Mann will sensationalize Dillinger or portray as an evil menace.