How Technique ruins everything...

Rating: 5/10 (21 January 2010)

Well. I was looking forward to this,but missed in in theaters. Rented it now and just felt to write something about this almost great movie. Almost great but only half the score...yeah... I know.
Let's start with the good things. Depp was awesome as most of the time, albeit a bit limited in the space he was given as an actor. But it was quite refreshing to see him as something else than a pirate in what felt like a decade. (I liked em but... you know...) So was Bale, whose role was all in all cut a bit short for my taste. We need more Christian Bale movies. Him in the lead... no costume... Machinist anyone?
The sets and costumes felt authentic. And I do get a certain thrill to see cars of the 30's... let alone guns and nightclubs and music (sadly not enough of the latter in this one). Sort of Road to Perdition like.
Well onto the bad which is basically one thing and that cost this movie three stars in my eyes (would've probably been an 8/10 otherwise).
Camera. Excuse the language but the camera sucked for 70 percent of the movie. Now I guess this was an artistic choice, like making it feel more documentary... like. Let me tell you something. That approach works for three kinds of film. Things that didn't happen or probably won't happen (Blair Witch, Cloverfield, Rec, District 9), Action Movies (wichevers just on at the moment) and DOCUMENTARIES!!!
It doesn't work for Hybrids. It especially doesn't work for movies with Stars in it we've all known for quite a while playing out a story we've sort of known for quite a while. I buy a documentary style camera, if: A: I don't quite know where we're headed and B: I shut off my brain at the start of the movie or C: I don't know almost every face on screen.
None of this is true for this movie. The whole shaky-hand camera-over the shoulder-limited to non-existing depth of field - forcibly none color-corrected (but still color-corrected) scenes in this movie just ticked me off. I was in the movie for about thirty minutes, where everything was still stylized Hollywood goodness, and it felt like something like Gone with the wind for a while. You know, like an old movie, like something we all know. Sink into it and enjoy, just go with it. Like something we all love once in a while. Even the first two robberies still were filmed that way, and all was good. Then the story took a turn for the worse for Dillinger an suddenly (and I MEAN SUDDENLY, we're treated to shaking hell described above, almost up to the end) the final two scenes are stylized again, and thats a good thing but only remind me of what might have been an instant classic for me.
Well its not. For about two thirds of the movie I was just thinking: "Keep that damn camera still for once you bloody bastard or at least put it on a rail!!!" thus ripping me out of the movie, thus ruining the whole experience, thus minus three stars... and I'm still generous here.