Not sure what to make of this

Rating: Null/10 (10 May 2012)

Maybe the marketing was bad, leading me to believe this was a film that it wasn't. Maybe the story was bad, not quite able to draw the viewer (me) in to their world of crime society at the turn of the century. Maybe the characters were too shallow, or their inner-workings too subtle, making it difficult for me to care about them.
In any case, if, at the end of a movie, I'm asking all these kinds of questions, you know I'm not going to give it a good grade.
I've never been a fan of "bad guy" as the hero/protagonist type of story. And that is what Mann has been serving up in many of his movies. So perhaps it is my bias. But the main characters, who are marketing as having this cat-and-mouse type game between them rarely interact. There's no strategy. There's no planning. It's just "hey, let's go rob a bank with a bunch of guns and a getaway car". Followed by the good guys saying, "OK men, this is a dangerous assignment, be prepared to be killed in a hail of bullets, and if you see them, shoot to kill". Repeat that formula about 6 times and you get Public Enemies.
5/10
not recommended.