catholiclefty

There's quite a lot to like about Public Enemies. The settings are atmospheric, the performances are top-notch, and the story is quite engaging. On the downside, it can be a bit hard to follow if you're unfamiliar with the real-life events it is based on, there are probably too many characters to casually keep track of, and the visual and audio quality is alarmingly variable. This was shot on digital cameras, which is often very obvious (it seems I'm a bit of a traditionalist for true film, and wisely so, if digital ends up looking as bad as this sometimes does). Worse than that, the volume is all over the place. I saw this in a very odd little community cinema in Scotland, and was quite willing to blame them at first, but when I saw it again at one of my more usual haunts it was clear that it was mainly the fault of the film.

Still, the story is involving and often a fun cat-and-mouse romp through various US states. The bank heists are fast-paced, though get a bit samey, and the quieter reflective moments are well-handled. The film would perhaps be stronger if we knew more about the background of these characters and where their motivations originated, as opposed to just being presented with the characters already setup for the film. To the credit of the leads, they mostly transcend this problem. However inevitable the ending may be, the journey here is enjoyable in the company of these fine actors. There are some suitable modern-day echoes with banks being the target of public ire, with the introduction of heavy-handed techniques on the supposedly 'good' side of the law, and so forth, though again without much background motivation there things are mainly 'just things that are happening' rather than placed fully in context.

Johnny Depp offers a layered and interesting lead character, even without the help of much backstory. He gives the role a combination of edge and sympathy to leave the viewer disoriented as to what they want to happen (should he keep getting away with it or face justice)? He's very good fun to watch when he's outwitting people in a light-hearted manner. If he'd only speak up a little bit I'd appreciate his performance all the more. Christian Bale is very good indeed, keeping his character very understated but with a clear determination and grit. Marion Cotillard doesn't have as much to do as one may hope, she's basically the love interest but doesn't get a great deal of setup. As a naive young thing who would fall for a bank robber, but also has a decent backbone when necessary, she's quite impressive. Billy Crudup makes for an impressive and quietly menacing Hoover. And there are lots of very small roles filled by quite big names, notably the delightful Carey Mulligan in a blink-and-you'll-miss it role near the start. Not to worry - we'll be hearing a *lot* more of her in the next six months or so. Then Leelee Sobieski turns up right near the end and surprises everyone in sight by being in a decent film for once.

There's potential for a great historical piece here that is close to being realised, but between the audio issues, the far-from-perfect use of digital cameras, the set-pieces going on for a little bit too long, and the lack of fleshing out of the characters, results in a film that boasts a lot of strong features but falls short of greatness. 7 out of 10.

Well, this didn't take long to arrive... Finally we get to see the final piece of last year's Oscars, with Frozen River and Melissa Leo's nominated acting performance. And... well, the film has some small value, but wasn't worth the wait, and Leo's performance is fine, but not exactly outstanding. Oh well.

A rather straightforward story about a woman trying to hold her family together with little money and a wandering husband, who gets involved with a Native American people-smuggling operation and the various adventures this results in, there's a lot of potential here for all manner of social and political commentary, but instead the film mostly operates on visuals of the frozen landscape and the mechanics of the operation rather than the underlying themes - and utilising but not entirely explaining the confusion as to how tribal lands operate, which often makes us rather confused too as to what the police of various jurisdictions are allowed to do and not do. As such, it feels somewhat of a missed opportunity and a rather contrived set of situations. One in particular, with a baby who may die, felt like blatant emotional propaganda poorly setup and irritatingly realised. And the ending, with another contrived situation resulting in a sacrifice, is no doubt supposed to be emotional but left me entirely cold.

Melissa Leo is good enough, but I wouldn't say this was close to an Oscar-nom-worthy performance. Her character is believable and hard and borderline unpleasant, and as such is fine, but nothing stood out strongly. Misty Upham plays her 'partner in crime' in a particularly annoying way that grated horribly. Charlie McDermott is an annoying teenager played in a stereotypical and unremarkable way. No-one else stands out.

I suppose the strength of Melissa Leo's performance is that she makes the film watchable at all, because without her this would be a tedious grind indeed. But it's not good enough to elevate this film above a run-of-the-mill and contrived 'movie of the week' which ducks a number of major issues in favour of some simple criminal tedium. Disappointing. 4.5 out of 10.