Stars: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Stephen Dorff & Channing Tatum
Directed By Michael Mann
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1152836/
The Feds try to take down notorious American gangsters John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd during a booming crime wave in the 1930s.
So there you go as far as the plot. Johnny Depp plays Dillinger as well as could be expected. At times it seemed as if he got bored with the role or a bit frustrated with it. The other actors and actresses seemed to be into the project, but Depp just didn't look all to thrilled. The feel of the movie at times felt like a film school project. I don't know what Mann was going for with the camera work, but 3/4 of the movie felt like some guy with a hand held camcorder was trying to film this while riding a bike intoxicated.
Set in the depression era, Dillenger (Depp) is robbing banks and throwing his middle finger up at the law. Now enter Melvin Purvis. A tough FBI agent hell bent on bringing down Organized crime. After a promotion Purvis(Bale) is given the daunting task of overseeing the crime soaked city of Chicago. So as you can imagine tons of shots are fired and people die, while Dillinger escapes making Purvis and the FBI look like the keystone cops.
I really enjoyed the sets, and the dirty feel of Chicago. The movement of the film at times seemed to drag on and on. The scenes with Dillinger and his flock of friends was just too much talk and not enough action. Also, it seemed like the supporting players kept the movie going when Depp was just there.
As far as a gangster flick goes though, it was awesome. The gunfights, outfits, seedy backstabbing people all around, and so on.... I felt like a kid watching a classic film on the big screen, but that would subside when we had to watch Depp babble on and on for minutes...
If you want to see a decent flim with shoddy camer work ten this is for you. If you want to see Depp pull off another great performance though, stay away from this movie. Maybe if Danny Elfman and Tim Burton were involved with the project Mr. Depp would've more of a performance.
Overall rating (* * *)
-Mr. What?-
No comments:
Post a Comment