It's Fourth of July weekend, and At The Movies with Peter Travers brings the fireworks with a fantastic new release: Public Enemies, in which Rolling Stone favorite Johnny Depp plays the great 1930s criminal John Dillinger. One might argue that the elongated weekend will give moviegoers a chance to see the utter crap that is Michael Bay's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen a second time, but then they'd be missing Public Enemies, a film Travers says is "made by a real filmmaker — Michael Bay, Michael Mann, you don't confuse the two."
Depp gives a electric, layered performance as Dillinger, with Christian Bale taking the role of Melvin Purvis, the FBI agent looking to end Dillinger's blitzkrieg of bank robberies. These are complex men leading corrupt lives in a Depression-era setting that mirrors our own times. You know what you're getting with Mann, who previously helmed Heat, Collateral and The Insider, and Public Enemies is just the latest riveting piece of cinema in the director's oeuvre.
For every great summer film, however, there's five lousy ones, and this week Travers places the cryfest that is My Sister's Keeper in his overfilled Scum Bucket.
It's the story of a girl (Abigail Breslin) who refuses to donate infusions and transplants to her older sister who is suffering from leukemia; Cameron Diaz stars as the daughters' mom. The film "uses every tear-jerking trick in the book" says Travers. It starts off passable but only spirals downward from there, capping it all off with a cop-out ending.
Finally, Travers revisits his new Transformers Scum Bucket to rail against something else about the film he has called the leading candidate for worst film of the decade. This time around, Travers takes aim at the blockbuster's racial stereotyping.
Read this week's reviews:
Public Enemies
My Sister's Keeper
>>Watch every episode of our weekly Peter Travers video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Friday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]
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The Enemy Below | August 8, 2009 9:45 PM
I saw"Public Enemies"twice.
I saw it first at my local Drive In Theater on July 4th.
My wife and I went to see"The Proposal"with Sandra Bullock there and I got to see parts of PE on one of the other screens but didn't really get to hear too much of the sound,so I saw it again two weeks later at my local monkeyplex.
It was very well made with a superb cast!!
I've seen Stephen Lang in"Tombstone"and"Gods and Generals"and he was very great in his role as the FBI Agent who stopped the brutal interrogation of Marion Cotillard's character of Billie Frechette!!
Chris Bale wasn't too bad as Melvin Purvis but Johnny Depp was excellent as Dillinger!!
Michael Mann really caught the atmosphere of the era with his directing and the cast was excellent!!
I give it 4&3/4 Stars!!!
Liz | July 8, 2009 12:08 AM
Leslie - I completely agree with you. I love all the actors in this movie, and it's one of the two movies I've seen this year (the other was Two Lovers) where days after seeing it I am still deconstructing it.
I also have no desire to see My Sister's Keeper - to be honest, knowing that it was the same person who directed The Notebook was enough of a turnoff.
Clayton | July 6, 2009 6:22 PM
OK, I'm all for Public Enemies, but really, was Christian Bale that good? I loved him in American Psych and Dark Knight, but ever since Dark Knight, his roles have been cardboard thin. I mean, you said Shia La Beuf had a yelling problem in Transformers? First things first for Bale; loose the accent.
Leslie Anne Shore | July 4, 2009 2:20 AM
Peter:
Thank you for this intelligent review of Public Enemies. You look deeply into film as both mythic art and cultural commentary. How I wish others did the same. I've seen "Public Enemies" twice. In each viewing, I was slayed by Depp's wide ranging, sustained performance. He carried the beauty and the beast of Dillinger with terrific, memorable power. There are some who believe Depp didn't carry enough "malice," however, history wins out. Dillinger was a charmer of a criminal -- not a malicious maniac. Depp is pitch perfect. Other than Brando, there is no one in screen history who carries the burden and blessing of complex character like Depp. He is a gift to cinema.
Some grouse about unanswered questions in the film: why did Dillinger rob banks? Why did Crudup have an accent? Why is the style confusing? Honestly, these questions are very superficial. No one needs a psychological profile of a criminal anymore than we need to question the accent of a Northeastern citizen. Mann is experimental and cutting edge. TV critics griped about his groundbreaking Miami Vice and, history once again has proven Mann right.
Bale was solid and nuanced. Crudup was eerie as Hoover, he carried the FBI megalomaniac's gait to the step. Marion Cotillard warms the screen with her intoxicating love and pluck. Please watch the performance of Stephen Lang as Agent Winstead. He is a film anchor -- he nearly stole the story away as a formidable, honest and stand up FBI agent.
About the only good man the FBI had in Hoover's pseudo-elite.
Finally, upon departure from the theater, I found myself asking "Who is really the criminal in this story?" Was it Dillinger, who was loyal to his gang and girl. . or Hoover who created one of the most corrupt law enforcement agencies in American history?
In today's world where civil liberties are trod upon and banks are still in decay. . .this moral ambiguity is timely and terrifying.
Best wishes to you,
Leslie
Blake | July 3, 2009 5:07 PM
Public Enemies was a good one. i have no desire to see my sisters keeper
Dave | July 3, 2009 1:11 AM
Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford wasn't all that.
Rory O'Dwyer | July 3, 2009 12:54 AM
I feel I'm the only one walking away from this movie with a "meh" feeling towards it. I found it to be like an "Assassination of Jesse James" of 1930's crime flicks.
Brogan | July 2, 2009 10:34 AM
Travers! Damn you! Not everyone knows the story of John Dillinger, and I was content with going in with a blank slate, then I read the first sentence of your review and you ruined the damn movie! Doesn't anyone tell you not to put spoilers in your reviews? Especially the first sentence! While I find you are the critic I most agree with, this upsets me almost as much as when my cousin-in-law told me the ending of Inside Man before I watched it.
HelloJackToad | July 2, 2009 5:25 AM
Peter Travers jumping on the 'Transformers 2 is racist' bandwagon? Now there's a shock. You don't think that maybe, just maybe, it's ironic or a satirical take on how people are influenced by 'Gangsta' culture a la Ali G? Because in the first Transformers, Prime says the Transformers learned the human languages and mannerisms through the internet, who's to say it's not making fun of 'Wiggas' as opposed to African-Americans. It's actually kind of racist of Travers to say anything that talks like that is a stereotype of African-Americans.
Adam | July 1, 2009 10:30 PM
Johnny Depps's performance was amazing. He is very deserving of Best Actor. He didn't deserve to win for Sweeney Todd, but definitely for this one. This was the finest movie of his career and he was the reason it was so fantastic. I surprisingly enjoyed christian bale's performance. He is usually one dimensional, but the character he is playing makes him step up his game. A fantastic movie with a fantastic cast, and the finest, most oscar worthy movie i've seen all year.
Avi | July 1, 2009 9:07 PM
I just saw Public Enemies and it would be a crime if it didn't win Best Picture!
Maverick | July 1, 2009 8:14 PM
Travers, PLEASE continue with putting moments from Transformers 2 (I have to prevent myself from shortening it into T2 so that it doesn't have any relation whatsoever with the Awesome Terminator 2) in the scumbucket. I honestly think that you could continue doing this for the rest of the year and it wouldn't get old or run out of material for that matter. I love it!