There’s a sense in which it’s worth watching Johnny Depp just read the phone book: I’ve enjoyed watching him on-screen since the days of 21 Jump Street, and – though there are several Depp films I’ve never seen, I’ve been trying to get through them all.
Public Enemies is from the director of Collateral – a Tom Cruise vehicle that I enjoyed – and so when I had a free pass to watch a DVD I thought I’d give it a go.
It tells the true story of a notorious bankrobber from the depression era, and the man (played by Chrisian Bale) who is tasked with bringing him to justice. If anything, the film is a 1930’s period piece in modern-day costume – the bullets are loud (as in Mann’s much earlier work – Heat) and there’s a lot of onscreen violence.
Somehow, as much as Depp manages to portray a complicated man, the story that the first half of the movie anticipates is not brought to the Hollywood conclusion I was expecting, and as such I was a little disappointed with it.