Strangely uninvolving and forgettable

Rating: 6/10 (4 September 2019)

"Public Enemies" is like one of its anti-hero's robberies. It's dazzling, occasionally stylish, violent and straight to the point. The characters zip in and out leaving mayhem in their wake, and you can barely tell them apart. You don't get to know them, and you don't know if you should feel blessed for that, or not.
The movie is star studded. Perhaps the two greatest chameleons currently in movies, Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, both appear, on opposite sides of the law. There's also Billy Crudup, Marion Cotillard, Giovanni Ribisi, and a brilliantly cast Stephen Graham... who is unfortunately underused.
Quite a lot happens in the movie but you don't feel invested in it. I've seen it twice now, and not one sequence sticks in my mind. Michael Mann made the risky decision to go with the gritty, hand-held camera approach to the movie, which seems incongruous with the trappings of a historical movie. The steadicam thing makes you think what you're seeing is really happening. It can't do that when everyone is dressed like the 1930's, and driving vintage cars.
This isn't the first time Mann has fallen on the sword of style: remember the weird, ponderous approach to "Ali"? This isn't as much a failure as that; it's still fairly enjoyable. It's just forgettable.