Completely unengaging

Rating: 3/10 (23 September 2010)

This film elicited nothing but indifference and boredom from me. The cinematography, pacing, sound editing and lighting all seem very amateurish for someone like Mann who is considered a great stylist. The love story aspect of the film is very tepid we are subjected to some terrible acting from the female lead during her interrogation scene. The members of Dillinger's gang are all relegated to the background so Depp is never really given a decent foil for his character and we also learn next to nothing about his co-conspirators. Christian Bale is wasted here in his role as the agent pursuing Dillinger. He has very little screen time and the little that he does get sees him scowling and frowning as he paces about.
If the best thing people can say about the film is that the gunfire is very very loud in the shootout scenes (a Michael Mann signature) and that the costumes look nice.....then it might be best to give this one a miss.
Back to re-watch Heat then.