Lock him up already!

Rating: 5/10 (25 July 2013)

There's so many things why this movie falls flat for me. The Johnny Dillinger of this movie is not likable as a character. I didn't care about him. I wanted him to be locked up.
There is the love relationship, if you can call it that, between Billie Whatshernameagain and Johnny. The whole setup of it is weird; Johnny spots her in a restaurant and decides to own her, like "you're my girl now." At first she's like "okay", then she's like "I don't wanna, I don't even know u," but all it takes is a few stern words and some trivial "now you know me" -facts from Mr. Dillinger to convince her otherwise. And that's portrayed as their "love story." Suddenly Billie is willing to sacrifice everything for Johnny, just like that, for no good reason, really.
It all left me wondering what was wrong with her. Was she in denial? Does she not value herself as a woman? Well if that is the case, the real heroin of the story would develop along the story and finally discover the real state of things. Doesn't happen. Was she stupid? I don't want to watch a movie about stupid people. Marion Cotilliard's take on Billie was a deer-in-the-headlights-one. Awkward to watch.
The film lacks any emotional buildup. Billie and Johnny have a love relationship. I don't care. People die left and right. I don't care. Johnny is shot in the end. Good riddance. The sound track desperately tries to add drama to such moments, but the outcome is cheesy, because the character development does not support it. I do not feel the way about these characters as the score suggests.
As Johnny Dillinger is an annoying character, the other cast disappear in the gray masses because the sheer number of them. There's no emotional connections to any of them. Their screen time is short and I don't know enough of them to care. Even Christian Bale's character, his right hand, Dillinger's right hand and all the fed agents and gangsters are just pawns. Many of them die. Whatever.
Then there is the plot, or rather the carrying out of it. There is, for instance, the pointless character of J. Edgar Hoover who gets owned by some even more pointless politician in a pointless scene, where FBI's financing is discussed. J.E.H. basically states that the FBI rocks, the politician barks at him that it doesn't and the whole scene has no impact on the movie whatsoever. It could have been left out. Everything with J.E.H. could have been left out, it was meaningless. I could list more, but will not, because it won't all fit here.
Then there's the notorious shaky cam camera work. I did forget to be annoyed by it at some point, but at first it was noticeable and irritating.
All in all, a disappointment. A waste.