PUBLIC ENEMIES: Worth a Second Look for the First Time
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Dec 18 2009, 8:12 PM
OK I have a confession to make ... My name is Big Daddy Wolf and I'm a Gangsterholic. That being said, my schedule this year and the disaster that is my life has meant that I have only seen a few movies firsthand in the cinema ... bad news for me, great news for you. Now I get to tell you what I enjoy or hate about what I missed as I play catch up on DVD.
PUBLIC ENEMIES is stunning to behold. Visually it is right up there with The Godfather and Bonnie & Clyde ... however this ain't no Godfather, but given time it will be considered favorably alongside Bonnie & Clyde (as far as gangster fans go, not film critics). They are both movies that legend dictates should be fast, shoot 'em up (that phrase seems familiar) epics, but any student of "bad guy" history will tell you that the biographies of both Bonnie & Clyde and John Dillinger were anything but ... and both movies capture that grittiness.
I am not sure that I would've cast Johnny Depp in the role, nor if I was him would I have taken it, but hey, the man has to feed his family and that ridiculously hot wife of his.
That brings me to Christian Bale who had better be careful in the roles he accepts in future ... there is a danger he could go from respected "Hollywood Illuminati" to this generation's Christopher Walken ... a man who has either never met a script he couldn't say no to ... or his wife the illustrious casting director wants him out of the house as often as possible. BTW as an aside, I love Christopher Walken ... movies he appears in automatically get a two star leg up in my ratings system, which is good, especially if the movie deserves minus stars (BALLS OF FIRE or whatever that abomination was called springs instantly to mind).
Anyway I give PUBLIC ENEMIES 3 stars. That is out of 5 ... feel free to disagree, like you will EVER be able change my mind.
OK I have a confession to make ... My name is Big Daddy Wolf and I'm a Gangsterholic. That being said, my schedule this year and the disaster that is my life has meant that I have only seen a few movies firsthand in the cinema ... bad news for me, great news for you. Now I get to tell you what I enjoy or hate about what I missed as I play catch up on DVD.
PUBLIC ENEMIES is stunning to behold. Visually it is right up there with The Godfather and Bonnie & Clyde ... however this ain't no Godfather, but given time it will be considered favorably alongside Bonnie & Clyde (as far as gangster fans go, not film critics). They are both movies that legend dictates should be fast, shoot 'em up (that phrase seems familiar) epics, but any student of "bad guy" history will tell you that the biographies of both Bonnie & Clyde and John Dillinger were anything but ... and both movies capture that grittiness.
I am not sure that I would've cast Johnny Depp in the role, nor if I was him would I have taken it, but hey, the man has to feed his family and that ridiculously hot wife of his.
That brings me to Christian Bale who had better be careful in the roles he accepts in future ... there is a danger he could go from respected "Hollywood Illuminati" to this generation's Christopher Walken ... a man who has either never met a script he couldn't say no to ... or his wife the illustrious casting director wants him out of the house as often as possible. BTW as an aside, I love Christopher Walken ... movies he appears in automatically get a two star leg up in my ratings system, which is good, especially if the movie deserves minus stars (BALLS OF FIRE or whatever that abomination was called springs instantly to mind).
Anyway I give PUBLIC ENEMIES 3 stars. That is out of 5 ... feel free to disagree, like you will EVER be able change my mind.
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