Just finished watching Public Enemies. Here are my thoughts on the film. The cinematography was excellent. You really felt that the movie was large enough to capture the personalities it contained. Depp was fantastic as always, Bale not so much. I could be a bit biased- I’m getting really tired of Christian Bale. The sets and wardrobe were probably my favorite part of the film. You felt like you were in the time period watching the whole thing play out on news reels at the local picture show.

Now for the Crushing Criticism.

The movie billed itself as the story of Dillinger, not some fedora and trenchcoat bulletfest. As such, you should expect many dramatic elements and moments set aside for charachter development. One problem, all the interpersonal interaction is fiction. Usually fictional elements of a story are used to make a film more exciting. This does just the opposite. I feel somewhat slighted that I only saw two of the dozens of robberies that actually occured and dozens of formative romantic incidents that never happened. More pew pew less boo hoo, and if Dillenger was really a master thief and thug, don’t fictionalize him into a misunderstood loverboy.

Best quality: Production Value 9/10
Worst quality: Storyline 4/10

Overall score: 7/10