A Boring Dog of a Film

Rating: 3/10 (15 July 2009)

There is no story here, nothing but an incompetent script. And there's no film really, as is the case with so many big bankroll Hollywood films. Script? The story devices used are worn out and hackneyed, and poorly executed to boot. I didn't feel anything for any of the characters in Public Enemies.
The biggest sinner is composer Elliot Goldenthal, who must have been dipped in chloroform overnight before scoring this. I can't help but think he must have purposefully meant to insult real film composers living and dead. He rips off John Coltrane's "Afro Blue," slows it down to a snail's pace, and passes it off as a theme.
I was shocked to see Michael Mann, the director of "The Insider" and "Heat," appear on the screen after this clunker. Mann has completely lost his touch, and worse, his sense of who to cast in his leading roles. Not only do the actors have nothing to work with; Depp has lost his depth and magnetism as an actor. But who is there in Depp's generation who is doing great work? Neither Depp, nor Leo DiCaprio, nor Colin Farrel, have unique voices that interest the ear. They still talk like teenagers. I doubt anyone could tell who was talking if they heard just audio without a face shown. Sure, these actors have emotional resources, screen presence, but I don't hear any truth or depth of feeling in their voices. Next to their UK contemporaries, or Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Tim Robbins - or even Matt Damon, they are lightweights.
I felt Public Enemies was a arrant waste of my time. I learned nothing, felt nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing satisfying. Putting Marion Cotillard in this rotten sausage of a film after her Oscar-winning turn as Edith Piaf is a slap in the face more brutal than her character's interrogation scene. No great actress should have to endure such a waste of her talent. The same goes for Lily Taylor's cameo. Michael Mann needs to spend some time studying Clint Eastwood ("Million Dollar Baby," " Mystic River") or Sidney Lumet if he's going to get his grit back. He evidences no sense of truth in this dismal failure.