Care for an explanation Mann?

Rating: 4/10 (7 February 2010)

Come on! What went wrong? This film was very hyped for the first half of the year and fails miserably to live up to it, honestly, it's awful. I'm going to try very hard not to sound all that one-sided but I will admit that it will be difficult considering that the subject of my review is a rushed, meticulous and inadequate depiction of a criminal mastermind, John Dillinger.
Don't get me wrong, I have admired some of Michael Mann's previous works. I thought that Heat, although long, was hugely entertaining where Mann's character development of two Hollywood starlets at the time, Pacino and De Niro was great. Here in Public Enemies the characterisation was disgracefully poor.
To continue an investigation into Mann's inconsistent portfolio of direction, The Insider was a great film. Not explosive, not a thrill-ride, but a greatly compelling and powerful picture not dissimilar to Heat in the sense that we understand and enjoy the characters. In a nutshell, Ali, Miami Vice and Collateral were OK, not fantastic but not nearly as grossly disappointing as Public Enemies.
Johnny Depp plays John Dillinger, a criminal mastermind who specialises in robbing high-chain banks blah blah blah. He, of course has his group of minions who collectively produced equally underwhelming performances (The only thing that impresses me about Stephen Dorff is that he had a fling with Pamela Anderson). On his trail, sort of speak, is Melvin Purvis, who is played by Christian Bale with a wonderful blend of strange expressions, wooden one-liners and of course, his notoriously annoying on-screen voice.
One scene that stands out for me is the substantially unengaging exchanges between Bale and Depp when Depp is in his cell blabbering on about something along the lines of you wont catch me or i'm going to escape from this cell, you'll see, I can't really remember I was that bored. Where this scene should have been riveting, energetic and smoothly played out by the two actors, the alarming lack of chemistry on-screen relegates the episode to Depp pushing his face in-between the bars whilst Bale looks on with a dopey smirk and chipping in one or two lines. Honestly, it left me in disbelief.
It stated on the Trivia section of the title page that Bale prepared vigorously for his role by meeting with the real Purvis' son and friends. *Claps hands* Job well done Christian!
The film does have its positive attributes, but they are grossly outweighed by the negative ones. I enjoyed the sets, some of the music and the costumes (bear in mind these are usually insignificant aspects of a film) and the performance of Depp was acceptable, memorable in comparison to Bale.
Overall, this film was a colossal waste of talent, money and potential. If you're looking for great Johnny Depp films, look elsewhere, maybe Blow or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. If you're looking for a great Michael Mann film, consider Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans, or Heat and if you're interested in a great Christian Bale where his performance is outstanding, there isn't many. Perhaps American Psycho or the Empire of the Sun.
P.s Pay close attention to the poster of the movie. See Johnny Depp's mischievous smile? Yeah, it's telling you that you're a fool if you come to see this film.
4/10. I hate myself for paying to see this.