Headache city

Rating: 5/10 (28 July 2009)

Any movie with Johnny Depp is a must see as far as I'm concerned. The greatest actor of his generation by far, so add to that the raging 30s, John Dillinger and some tommy-guns and I'm there.
John Dillinger to some extent represented the end of an era. Glorification of crime under the smile of slippery bank-robber John Dillinger as the modern Robin Hood was a product of a certain era of American prosperity and then its downfall. Roosevelt and the end of the Great Depression brought about a new reality and Dillinger fell as quickly as he rose to fame.
To some extent this is a movie about the changes coming about. Unfortunately this momentous occasion to delve into the unbelievable mindset of the era was wasted and we got more cat-and-mouse with just a couple of flashes of analysis. Johnny Depp is brilliant as always, but his character was led into a corner with lacking character development.
The movie hints and suggests but doesn't actually have the courage to delve into the era. Add to that the shaky cam and semi-professional look of the picture and we are in for a disappointment. Michael Mann seems to think that a jumping picture is 'innovative' and 'adds a modern look'. As far as I'm concerned all it adds is viewer headaches. Minus 2 stars for the appalling picture that almost makes the movie unwatchable on the big screen.