Comments on watching and making films.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Public Enemies

Michael Mann... Oh, Michael Mann... What happened? Were you high? Did someone smack you over the head, causing brain damage in the area that made you a good director in the first place? Or has getting older just made you lose your marbles?

Public Enemies was supposed to be a movie about John Dillinger, one of the most prolific bank robbers in American history, and an icon in its history. He was a celebrity in his time. Instead, what we got was an incoherent mess that was kind of about Dillinger, but was also about half a dozen other people. The film had no real narrative structure to speak of, and, instead, seemed like a simple retelling of (mostly) uninteresting events. Where were the bank robberies? Where were the fast cars? the women? All the stuff that Depp speaks so highly of in character as Dillinger? Where was the character development? I didn't care about anybody in this film, and especially didn't care when they got killed. Okay, Pretty Boy Floyd gets shot. So what? Baby Face Nelson kills some people, then gets shot. So? I didn't even care about Dillinger. I didn't even care about his girlfriend.

And then there's the technical aspects of it... Ugh... The HD? Looked like crap. HD already looks kind of half ass when blown up to 35mm, but this looked REALLY bad. Miami Vice looked better, and Miami Vice didn't look that good...

Oh Michael Mann... What happened?

No comments: