Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Movie Review: "Public Enemies"

When I heard Johnny Depp and Christian Bale were going to be in a gangster movie, I couldn't help but be excited. I've had a crush on Christian Bale since I was 12, and Johnny Depp is, well, Johnny Depp. Then it came out, and I heard it wasn't that great, so I decided to wait for Redbox.
Good choice. It wasn't bad, it just wouldn't have been worth theater prices.

It was slow, which surprised me. I mean, it's a gangster movie. It's supposed to be all action-y and suspenseful. It also was lacking in character development (particularly for Melvin Purvis, Christian Bale's character), which it shouldn't have been if it was that slow. There didn't seem to be any reason why Purvis was so set on getting Dillinger, other than Dillinger being the bad guy. Usually the cop is out to prove himself, or sets great store by the law, or is doing it for his wife and kids or something. Here there didn't seem to be any extra motivation. Also, none of the secondary characters were ever really introduced so there seemed to be a lack of depth to the movie. It was fairly one-dimensional.

On the plus side, though, it was a gangster movie, so there were tommy guns, nice cars, and great clothes. There was that wonderful feeling of rooting for the bank robber instead of the cop. There was Christian Bale with a southern accent. (Goodness that boy does accents well.)

So basically, "The Untouchables" it is not, but "Public Enemies" is still worth renting.

7 comments:

chelleybutton said...

I was about to ask if it was still worth renting for the eye candy. ;) That's too bad it isn't what it could've been though. I mean, Johnny Depp & Christian Bale and gangsters, like you said! Such potential!

Celeste said...

Do you promise that it's worth renting? One time somebody promised me that a movie was worth renting, and it was really stupid. I wasted 2 hours of my life.

Celeste said...

It's always disappointing when a movie has a great cast, but the story doesn't live up to it. Remember how lame "Pay It Forward" was?

lucy said...

ohmigosh that was lame. and then there was 'america's sweethearts' and 'love actually.'
and i won't promise it's worth renting cuz i don't want to get caught in that trap, but i do promise it was better than that one. like a lot better.

chelleybutton said...

I agree about "America's Sweethearts" and "Pay it Forward" but liked "Love Actually" at least in part. If only I could edit it and make it about half as long. Then it'd be a good film. :)

lucy said...

it can be just as long, it just needs to cut out 90% of the 437 stories it has going on

Celeste said...

So should Jerry and I rent this movie? He doesn't really think of Depp and Bale as eye candy.