Public Enemies

DKelly · 03-07-2009, 11:16 PM

Anyone else heard about this film yet?

It's a film co-written and directed by Michael Mann(Mann has also done such classic action films as Last of The Mohicans, Heat, and Collateral) and is set for release July 1st of this year. The plot is this:

"FBI agent Melvin Purvis sets his sights on American gangster John Dillinger and others in an attempt to curb a rampant Chicago crime spree during the 1930s".

John Dillinger will be played by Johnny Depp, Melvin Purvis will be played by Christian Bale, John's girlfriend, Billie Frechette, will be played by recent Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard, Billy Crudup will play J. Edgar Hoover, Stephen Graham will play Baby Face Nelson, and Channing Tatum will play Pretty Boy Floyd. Also, considering Mann is directing, that means the use of weapons, reload time, amount of shells per round, and such will be extraordinarily accurate compared to most action films out nowadays, as he is known to pay close attention to that kind of thing.

Here's the official trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkRg6...eature=related

Look amazing to anyone else? This is easily my most anticipated action film of the summer. I couldn't care less about Transformers 2 and Terminator: Salvation when this is coming out in the same summer. I'm also excited because this doesn't seem like one of Depp's quirkier characters(and I like him better when he breaks out of that mold because it shows range as an actor), and it should be fun seeing him go up against Christian Bale.

Adam · 03-08-2009, 01:31 AM

I do remember reading about this film, and I expect good things. I'll see it opening day, no question.

I like Bale and I'm trying to get excited for his role in Salvation but I'm not expecting great things from that film.

JerRocks2day · 06-17-2009, 11:22 AM

I saw the prevew on youtube a couple months back. Looks very good.

Somehow, I predict that Johnny Depp will either be nominated for an oscar, or he'll win it. Chances are, maybe he won't. I'll have to wait and see when this film comes out.

DKelly · 06-17-2009, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JerRocks2day

Somehow, I predict that Johnny Depp will either be nominated for an oscar, or he'll win it. Chances are, maybe he won't. I'll have to wait and see when this film comes out.

This is a Michael Mann film. No matter how great Johnny is in this, I don't see him winning on Oscar. Mann's films usually don't do well at the Oscars in the acting categories. He may get a win in editing or sound, but probably not for acting. It's entirely possible Johnny could get nominated though.

JerRocks2day · 06-17-2009, 01:53 PM

Yeah. That's why I said it's a possibility.

Ur prob right how this will probably will get oscar nominated for sound/editing. I started checking out not too long ago. Should see that again before watching PE.

penguinofwar · 06-17-2009, 08:55 PM

I really want to see this. Christian Bale and Johnny Depp are awesome....

DKelly · 07-01-2009, 06:59 PM

Anyone going to see this this week?

I'm gonna see it as soon as possible. This is one of my must-see's of the year.

JerRocks2day · 07-01-2009, 09:07 PM

Saw it tonight. The sound effects were awesome. The music sounded a little like Last of the Mohicans, and I think they could've done better. Overall, the music score was okay. Johnny Depp was great, Christian Bale was ok, but not as good as Depp, obviously. I'd give this film a 3.5 stars out of 4.

**MtlMom** · 07-01-2009, 09:33 PM

I really want to see this too.

DKelly · 07-03-2009, 06:54 PM

Saw this last night with a good friend. What a fantastic film: Michael Mann delivers yet again.

This is easily, IMO, Johnny Depp's best performance since the first POTC film. He had to carry the film on his shoulders, and he didn't falter once. He was so cool in the role and he showed such charisma, charm, and humanity in every scene that I truly believed he was John Dillinger 100%. He brought quite a bit of humor to the role as well (when he started singing "The Last Round-Up" on the way from a bank robbery, I and the rest of the theater had a really good laugh). Also, his scenes and dialogue with Marion Cotillard sparked with chemistry and really felt, to me, like an old-time Hollywood romance film.

Christian Bale delivered what I believe to be his best performance since The Machinist (a huge improvement over his phoned-in performance in The Dark Knight). His subtlety and facial expressions hinted at a man struggling with his own personal demons due to what he sees the police doing with criminals and trying to keep ahold of his humanity and morals while still trying to be the best FBI agent he could be.

Marion Cotillard was terrific as well and, as I mentioned above, had fantastic chemistry in her scenes with Depp.

The sound was brilliant. I've always loved Mann's approach when it comes to the use of firearms in his films (making sure they sound realistic and making sure that his actors know how to handle them realistically), and this film was no exception. The bank robbery scenes were masterful and the shoot-out scene about 3/4 of the way into the film was incredible and certainly reminded me of that classic shoot-out sequence in a previous Mann film by the name of Heat. The use of music was spot-on, IMO, and accented certain scenes beautifully.

What I thought was really interesting was how Mann portrayed the main two protagonists. He portrayed Dillinger as, yes, a bank robber who had no qualms with stealing money from the banks, but also as a gentleman who would use his own coat to help keep captive civilians warm, and would only take money from the bank and not the civilians inside the bank. Also, whenever he would take civilians as shields, as soon as he got far enough away from the lawmen, he would make sure they were safe and could get away safely. He portrayed Purvis as a man who still felt innocent people should be treated with humanity and dignity despite the changing laws regarding the war on crime (I loved the scene where he came in and rescued Billie when she was being violently interrogated about the whereabouts of Dillinger). Mann also touched beautifully on the rock-star status of bank robbers during the era of the Great Depression and how the public viewed them almost as heroes because of the fact that they were able to take money so easily from the banks during a time when the majority of citizens were so poor.

See this as soon as you can. Easily one of the most high-quality summer action/thrillers of the decade.

conceived in fire · 07-04-2009, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DKelly

Christian Bale delivered what I believe to be his best performance since The Machinist (a huge improvement over his phoned-in performance in The Dark Knight).

How many times must it be said: Bale was fine in The Dark Knight. Overshadowed by another actor =/= bad performance.

The movie was fairly good, but not amazing. The hand held/non-Steadicam camera stuff got pretty annoying at times, if only because the screen is so big. It's not a movie I'd wanna watch fairly often, unlike Collateral or Last of the Mohicans.

corporate · 07-04-2009, 02:17 PM

hand held + jump cuts = greatness

I'll wait for the DVD.

DKelly · 07-04-2009, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by conceived in fire

How many times must it be said: Bale was fine in The Dark Knight. Overshadowed by another actor =/= bad performance.

That is not why I did not like Bale's performance in TDK.

I assume, from watching TDK, that Bruce Wayne was supposed to be caught between wanting to keep Gotham safe from The Joker and other threats, but that he also conflicted because he wanted a normal life so he could spend it with Rachel. The problem was Bale's performance didn't actually convince me that he was honestly having those emotions and feelings. I didn't see the subtlety that made his performance in Batman Begins that much better. It felt a little too flat to me. In BB, I felt his struggles and conflicts. I didn't feel that near as much in TDK. I felt his performance was stiff as a board and lacking of any nuance and subtlety. Of course, that could, IMO, be blamed on Christopher Nolan for focusing on making the film such an ☺☺☺☺ story that he forgot to add the necessary amount of subtlety and nuance to the characters and plot(Magnolia is an excellent example of an ☺☺☺☺-scale film that is laced with plenty of nuance and sensitivity in the attention to characters and plot).

Whereas in Public Enemies, I did feel his character's conflicts and struggles. As I mentioned in my last post, I could feel his desire to remain honorable and hold on to his morality in a time when the war on crime was getting more and more intense and harsh. In PE, I did feel the subtlety and nuance in his performance and the way he carried himself in the role.

One more thing: just because you happened to really like his performance in that film doesn't make it a fact that it was a solid performance. That's your opinion and you have every right to have it. Not everyone is going to agree about it though. I'm not trying to sound rude or anything, but not everyone believes that his performance was a good one like you do.

normajean777 · 07-04-2009, 07:10 PM

I saw this twice. Johnny Depp is absolutely amazing in this. Everytime he was in a scene was really cool and exciting, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Christian Bale seemed to less fit his role, some of it seemed a bit to forced, and not natural. But seriously both of these guys are on my Top 5 list of actors these days, and its incredible to watch them in the same movie.

bowstaff981 · 07-06-2009, 12:32 AM

I saw it tonight and I wasn't all that impressed. It was okay, but not great. The things that bothered me the most was the cinematography and music. There were a couple times where the camera work my brain hurt. Also, the movie was set in the 30's so I expected to hear some 30's era music and we heard maybe two songs. I felt that Dillenger was rather boring and uninteresting to watch. I was much more interested in Baby Face Nelson than him. Disappointing film for me.