Public Enemies Blu-ray Review

This is one Blu-ray you might want to lock up and throw away the key.

PACKAGE:  
In addition to the obligatory director’s commentary, you’ll also find on the disc a good range of extras, all of which are in HD.

There’s a lot of analysis of the undeniably fascinating character of John Dillinger, whether this be through a discussion of Depp’s portrayal of him in the ‘Making Of’ short, or in the short but interesting mini-documentary about the man himself. There’s also some nice insights into Michael Mann’s methods, his perfectionism and attention to detail and so on.

It’s all fascinating – I actually enjoyed watching the extras more than I enjoyed watching the film, which says a hell of a lot. It’s unfortunate that they’ve paid so much attention to the character of Dillinger here because it simply serves to highlight the fact that the film falls wide of the mark.

There’s also some use of the BD Live feature that we’re all becoming increasingly familiar with, this time in the form of a daft online game called the ‘Gangster Movie Challenge’, as well as streamed playback of current movie trailers in HD as you fire up the disc. It’s all fun stuff, but ultimately a bit gimmicky and, in the case of the trailers, a tiny bit intrusive.

BIAS:
I have to admit that I’m not always blown away by Johnny Depp.

I always feel like he’s holding back a bit too much, or sort of teetering on the brink of greatness in some of his characterisations but, for me anyway, never quite getting there. I’m not saying he isn’t a great actor because he undoubtedly is, but it’s just that sometimes, just sometimes, there seems to be something missing.

Jack Sparrow, for example, never quite gets going in my opinion. He’s not quite “piratey” enough. The same goes for Depp’s Dillinger. He could’ve been darkly cavalier, charming, dashing, the sort of guy we’d all like to be if we robbed banks.

Instead it seems like Depp is trapped in second gear. Maybe it’s not his fault on this occasion – to be honest his performance is still solid enough and it’s hardly what brings the film down.

So no, it’s not the performances, even if they are a tiny, weeny bit below the usual standard we’d expect. It’s really a combination of a mixed up script, some rather weird technical screw-ups and the sheer wasted potential that consign this movie onto the “irredeemably flawed” pile.

Verdict:  AVOID / CONSIDER / RENT / BUY / TREASURE

Editor’s Note: This is a review of a Region 2 release. Public Enemies will be available in all US territories on December 8th.

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5 Responses to “Public Enemies Blu-ray Review”

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