A good movie that could have been great

Rating: 7/10 (12 March 2010)

There's not much you need to know about the plot except to know that it's about the life and crimes of John Dillinger and his associates. The film is wonderfully directed and shot by Michael Mann and carries much of the same brilliance that his previous masterpiece Heat does. Mann is a master at ratcheting up the tension shot by shot, and Elliot Goldenthal's music (which sounds almost identical to that of Hans Zimmer) adds a wonderful deep plodding sense of inevitability to the film. Having said this there are some problems that prevent this from reaching the heights of say, Heat. For one I don't care for some of the casting options. Both Johnny Depp and Christian Bale are good actors who carry their characters well (though Depp is noticeably better than Bale), but they are just a little too perfect looking for these roles IMO. Heat could get away with it because it was something of a fantasy about a group of perfect criminals. Here however we are dealing with historic figures and as often happens in such cases the stars get in the way of the characters they are portraying. Bale and Depp are just too well known and their acting just not quite good enough for one to fully suspend ones disbelief. Also while the film I'm sure if historically very curate it could have used some editing to tighten things up as a film. There is a scene in the film that never takes place because Dillinger is killed before it happens and that scene is the train robbery. And while the final scene is almost perfectly shot it's almost anticlimactic in the face of the audiences expectation of a final confrontation aboard the train.