I enjoyed it. Good turn by Mann, Depp, etc.

Rating: 7/10 (4 July 2009)

Fine treatment of the well-worn Bonny and Clyde/John Dillinger Thirties gangster stuff. Johnny Depp plays Dillinger sorta like he did Donnie Brasco, save for the fact he's on the baddie's side for real. He's not that sympathetic here, there was some lip-service paid to his Robin Hood like tendencies, but overall-he shoots up alotta the midwest, he robs banks, he gets involved w/ the mob, the FBI comes after him bigtime, he winds up dead at the end.
I was happy to see familiar faces like Stephen Dorff, Stephen Lang and Ribisi in here, but they were not introed the way that you'd like, and it took me awhile to fit them into the story lines or remember who they were(actors not parts). Lang is always very fine and should be used more.
I liked the shootouts-yes this was done by the Miami Vice/Heat director. You can certainly tell that.
The FBI was handled well, good turn by Crudup as J Edgar, and enjoyed seeing their phone system surveillence being showcased. J Edgar was all about bugging the lines and using that info for his advantage, did it for 50 years and did it well.
I was not thrilled by the shaky cam. Lose that. Less is more.
The 'girl' is well acted and she's a beaut. They could have made more for her in this and not lost a thing.
They play fast and lose w/ the factoids-but I don't care. I see all gangster movies as being heavily geared towards entertainment, screw the history books. Who cares? Also, it was GREAT seeing Myrna Loy/William Powell/Clark Gable up close on screen. I was actually MORE interested in seeing Manhattan Melodrama than I was This, to be honest.
*** outta ****, it's a bit long and it's nothing great. But you will be entertained and it's not a bad piece of film-making.