Public Enemies

I must first express that there are ways in which I was bothered by this film. I hope never again to see something shot in HD format and look the way that this looked. Nearly every low-lighting scenario made me cringe, mainly the interiors with their reddish-brown tint. I hated it. It looked cheap. I had to shake off the feeling that I was watching a student film or some re-enactment on the History Channel.

Furthermore, the sound mixing was... sketchy. On numerous occasions, both the ambient and musical tracks suffered from some very blunt fades (both in and out). The dialogue sounded hallow at times. Certain sound effects would randomly have suspiciously low levels to them. It's weird considering that the great re-recording mixer Kevin O'Connell (with his 20 Oscar nominations) had his hand in this.

Nevertheless, there is a good amount of praise to be given for the work done here. Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard give very real and gritty performances that draw you in, despite the fact that the film seems to try to keep them at a distance. The contained nature of the story without any real biographical information was a great decision. Appropriately in dialogue, Dillinger tells Frechette that it doesn't matter where you come from but where you're going. To compensate, what needed to be given was more bonding time with Dillinger and his pals throughout. Unfortunately, there's too much of a balance in screen time between Depp's Dillinger and Christian Bale's Melvin Purvis for there to be any truly strong connections with either.

A couple scenes were handled very skillfully. One in which Dillinger and his buddies sit in a movie theatre where the news reel brings up a picture of him and and the announcer proclaims that he could be anywhere. He says to look right. Everyone but Dillinger turns their head. He says to look left. Same result. It's tense but yet laughable how Dillinger manages to avoid recognition. Another has Dillinger walking directly into the "Dillinger Bureau" of the CPD, as if he's just a tourist taking a glance around the place.

There are some wonderful shots that make great use of deep focus. In a shootout, one character is reloading his gun in the foreground on screen right while his foe can be seen slowly approaching from the distance with his gun drawn on screen left. It's a chilling moment when that shot is held for a good many seconds. On the whole, there was too much handheld camerawork for my taste. It became disorienting, especially when the action increased and the shot length decreased.

This is a good film, but only because the story that's being told is so good to begin with. Ultimately, the experience is forgettable. Sadly, that seems to be how Michael Mann films turn out. By all means, he is a solid filmmaker with 4 Oscar nominations to prove it. But, with the exception of Heat (1995), none of his films are brought up much in conversation. So shall it be with "Public Enemies." It has no long-term elasticity.

With 10 Best Picture nominees to be announced, this could be one of them. I'm betting against it, but it's all relative to how films later this year will fair. The same goes for Depp being up for Best Actor. I'll wager he at least lands a Golden Globe nod. I'll put money on an Art Direction nomination and another nod to the resume of Colleen Atwood for her Costume Design.