'Heat' with tommy guns and fedoras

Rating: 5/10 (23 October 2009)

An appealing recipe and list of ingredients: two equally smoldering, brooding leading men with fab jawlines; a well-chosen supporting cast; gorgeous period costumes, sets and props; an American legend based in the reality of a not-too-distant past; cops-n-robbers action and the requisite conflicted love interest who stands by her man and looks the other way despite his obvious flaws.
Unfortunately the finished meal isn't going to win any Foodie awards - mostly because we've all been here before with Michael Mann. Mann has made great contributions to both television and film. 'Miami Vice' is often derided as strictly an 80s phenomenon but its film-noir darkened sets, whispered dialogue and quirky supporting cast (with some unlikely gorgeous policewomen thrown in) influenced dozens of shows from NYPD Blue to CSI. 'To Live And Die In LA' was a Friedkin film but it borrows liberally from the Mann cookbook.
'Heat' is one of the few stylish crime thrillers of the 1990s that still feels fresh today thanks to its pacing and players and it's clear that Mann thinks so too. He can't be faulted for revisiting a successful formula but it all feels too familiar: Depp/Dillinger is a curtain-twitching DeNiro ready to skip town in 60 seconds flat, Bale/Purvis is Pacino stalking his prey and apparently never sleeping, Cotillard/Frechette is Ashley Judd wailing and gnashing teeth over her criminal boyfriend. Mann even reuses the 'criminal meets cop up close and personal before the end of the movie' scene in which the two have a staredown and exchange threats pregnant with ominous foreshadowing.
Many would-be Hollywood blockbusters are mindlessly edited to squeeze into a predetermined running time but at an expansive 2 hrs 20 min 'Public Enemies' feels overlong with too many lingering shots of its stars (usually a tight closeup of the eyes) and a surfeit of shaky hand-held camera work meant (apparently) to convey the frantic nature of bank jobs, police ambushes and prison breaks. The gun battles are admittedly well done with impressive sound effects and believable damage to buildings and bodies.
'Public Enemies' isn't a bad film and may even be a good one - it's definitely preferable to have two stars sharing screen time than to have only one (think Tom Cruise in the MI series) tearing through scenes and scenery. Unfortunately if you've already watched films by Michael Mann particularly 'Heat' the frequent moments of deja vu are too distracting to allow one to fully enjoy his latest offering.