Public Enemies (With Play.com Exclusive Bottle Opener Tommy Gun Keyring)

I normally love films like this Godfather and Goodfellas are two of my favourites of all time. Being Michael Mann the director of the fantastic Heat was behind this and it starred Johnny Depp and Christian Bale you would imagine it would be fantastic.
Well it's not it drags and i mean really drags the film plods along far to slowly and has no real feel to it you don't believe any of the characters and i found myself bored after just 30 minutes.
I stuck with it for the whole 2hours and 20minutes but it never really got better 2 bank robberys and 2 gun fights are the highlights of this film.
Watch it if you really feel the need to see this or if you are one of those die hard Johnny Depp fans but any real fan of Gangsta films will be left like i was feeling let down by a film that promises so much but actually delivers very little.

This is a fantastic movie. Absolutely brilliantly acted, my personal favourite performance is Christian Bale as Purvis.
The strongest aspect of this movie is the atmosphere and the set design. It really feels like you are in the twenties.

At the beginning of the film, you may find the close ups a little annoying, but you will adapt.

I will say however, I will NOT get this on DVD. This is a movie you can really only watch once. This is a Biopic, NOT an action/gangster movie, so you can't really get anything else out of it on subsequent viewings.
My advice is to either rent this or wait for a very cheap price to make your one viewing worth it.

Director Michael Mann has brought us some of the most visually striking and amazing crime thrillers over the best two decades, and it's good to see that he is back on form with this true story of America's first public enemy number 1 John Dillinger, as he breaks free of prison and goes on a bank robbing spree in depression set America. To this he is followed by the newly formed FBI and leading the "G" Men is Christian Bale as Agent Melvin Purvis. Depp has never been better as the Robin Hood style playboy bank robber, but also as usual Bale is just as good, giving another brooding performance.The film is not just about robbing banks, and anybody expecting an action overload will be disappointed, it's about the two leading men as they slowly get drawn into each other as the grip of the law gets tighter, leading to the fateful shooting of Dillinger outside the theatre. Mann's attention to detail is astounding as he captures the era perfectly, and gives us the amazing visuals and music score we have got so used to with the likes of Manhunter, Heat, Ali, Collateral and the very underrated Miami Vice movie. What action in the film there is is spectacular, as the machine guns blaze, and pepper cars and people. With a summer full of battleing Robots and Cyborgs (one of these includes Bale) it's very refreshing to find a film that puts story and characters before spectacle. There is no doubt that this excellent movie will not make as much money as the likes of Transformers 2, Terminator Salvation or Star Trek, but is bound to be one of the best films of the year.
Another brilliant crime thriller from Michael Mann!

Now i usually love ganster films, but this was so far out of the picture it was unreal, it dragged from start to finish. It missed the major components a gangster film has to have in order for it too run smoothly i.e action, guns etc .... The film was about bank robbery so why ??? In the whole of the 2 hours and so on was there only one ?? A waste of time and i wouldnt suggest at all this was truly dissapointing ..

This was a real disappointment not only from the director but also from the actors. Perhaps Jonny Depp is only good when he doesn't look like himself! And Christian Bale was very lifeless, not his usual brooding self.

The film starts promisingly with a fairly entertaining prison escape and shoot-out scene but it really doesn't get any further with a lot of dialogue and less than exhilirating shoot-outs which are all too familiar. I was left waiting for a thrilling finale but this didn't come and although I realise that it is based on the true story of John Dillinger, two scenes in particular bordered on stupidity, especially the one where Depp walks into the police station completely unnoticed by the officers still in attendance!

A very long 2 and a half hours made even longer by the complete lack of thrills. Not a patch on The Godfather, The Untouchable or Goodfellas which are all well worth their viewing time.