What did I think of Public Enemies?

Okay, short answer, I liked it and recommend it. The casting and performances are spot on from top to bottom. Johnny Depp and Christian Bale are in top form as is to be expected. Equally great is the wholly underrated (in my opinion) Billy Crudup, in the too brief role of J. Edgar Hoover. However, I feel the real standout of the, let's call them second tier of actors, was Stephen Graham as the unhinged Babyface Nelson. Graham is probably most famous to audiences as Jason Statham's right hand man Tommy, in Guy Ritchie's Snatch. All that being said though, I'm a Michael Mann fanboy, so he can rarely do wrong by me, and yes, that was the short answer.

Long answer, well, first off, this isn't a "summer" movie and would have been better served opening in the fall. By that, I mean that despite a Mann signature shootout a la Heat, this isn't a popcorn movie. It's performance driven, not efx/explosion driven as is the case with 90% of mainstream summer movies. As such, the decision to release it during these summer months, I feel does it a disservice, and I suspect that it will get a limited re-release come December. I don't feel that the majority of summer movie audiences have the attention required to fully appreciate this film. Which brings me to my next point.

I bought the book by Bryan Burrough that the movie is based on when it first came out four or five years ago. I got about 220-250 pages into it, which is about a 3rd of the way through and had to stop because there was just too much information to absorb. The incestuous nature of these depression era crooks made it difficult to follow if you're not reading it daily. I vowed to start over with a pen and pad so I could take notes. I haven't done that yet, but I fully intend to, as it's a fascinating read.

As a result, in my opinion, it should have been an HBO miniseries as was originally intended. With that much information available, the movie, while great, just didn't do justice to book. The movie could have more fittingly been titled "The John Dillinger Story," or simply "Public Enemy," singular. I mean, just take a look at that poster above, it's of the lone and solitary figure, John Dillinger and no others.

So, if you're a fan of any of the actors I've mentioned, go see it. If you're a fan of true crime stories, go see it. If you're a fan of Mann, you won't be disappointed, so go see it. However, if you're in the mood for a true "summer" popcorn movie, go see Transformers 2, but only if you're not prone to seizures, or movies with discernible plots.

- Lenny