Public Enemies: A beautiful object, but...

Public Enemies is one of those admirable cinematographic objects, where it is really difficult to be enthusiastic. This new film by Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral) is perfect in all respects. Both narrative and on the interpretation or staging aspect, this drama telling the story of the famous John Dillinger is full of elements of the highest precision and quality. The filmmaker has demonstrated a remarkable effort in the details, a perfectionist, that’s obvious.

Public Enemies, movie review

Public enemy no1 at the time of the creation of the FBI, John Dillinger is a fascinating character. The gangster has indeed gained popular support at a time when several people trapped in the throes of the Great Depression, blamed their woes on financial institutions. They see the robberies of Dillinger as a form of revenge against the white-collar workers crooks who put everyone in their loss. We could also criticize Mann for not having done enough to reflect this aspect of the depression. Even if the story is camped at a time of decline and poverty, collective suffering is almost never mentioned.

The scenario that Mann co-wrote with Ronan Bennett (Lucky Break) and Ann Biderman (Primal Fear), looks rather to portray a charismatic figure, whose activities will soon raise the ire of the authorities. J. Edgar Hoover (excellent Billy Crudup), Director of the FBI, and Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), the man charged by Hoover to head the agency office in Chicago, make it almost a personal matter.

The rebellious and independent attitude of Dillinger is also annoying to the criminal organizations... everything is in place for a confrontation in which, we guess (how hard is it?), people will pay with their blood ...

True to form, Mann does not put on the dramatic aspects of history for grandstanding. He prefers to set up things, including in his story a multitude of peripheral characters, which will, of course, all have their importance. Among these, it should be noted the one embodied by Marion Cotillard (La vie en rose). In the role of of Dillinger’s lover, the French actress who appears in a movie for the first time since receiving her Oscar, can actually deliver a real composition, despite the apparent thinness of the role.

Public Enemies is also based mainly on the kind of cat and mouse game in which the two protagonists play actively. If the Dillinger’s actions are spectacular, the man remains a example of sobriety. This at least, is the illustration that Johnny Depp gives, which avoids any effect. And leaves the strength of character impose itself. Facing him, Christian Bale is just as sober, although the intensity of the proverbial actor is expressed through contained rage. Perhaps this says it all: this movie is sort of a full of opacity. Dillinger remains a mysterious figure at the end of the movie as he was at the beginning. Public Enemies remains, however, a beautiful film.

Like usual, the trailer:

Pelham 123

Pelham 123, a film by Tony Scott with Denzel Washington and John Travolta could have been excellent...

Pelham 123, Movie Review

Tony Scott usually does very good thrillers, with solid stories like Man on Fire and Déjà Vu (both with Denzel Washington), and in which he raises questions in us while hitting a nerve.

In Pelham 123, the final station, the director revisits the 1974 movie, which featured Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw. Without wishing to compare the two, as this would be unfair, I still have to admit that Tony Scott’s version misses.

Screenwriter Brian Helgeland had indicated that the emphasis was placed on the relationship between the two men, the dispatcher of the New York subway (Denzel Washington) and the hostage taker, Ryder (John Travolta).

Unfortunately, that's all we finnd in the film. The scenes of action and other stories seem to have been added in the rush to fill a hole, while other facts are not explained nor really presented.

And if the relationship and the game of cat and mouse between the two men is very well portrayed, we are left hanging, wondering why Pelham 123 is concluded so quickly. Leaving us wonder if, by chance, we will be entitled to a director’s cut on DVD or Blu-ray.

Terminator Salvation (Terminator Redemption, Terminator 4)

Terminator Salvation

The future hides a large emptiness

Inhuman, implacable, dark, Terminator Salvation (Redemption) gives the impression that this movie could have been done by a T-800 robot.

We can not find the fingerprint of stolidity so visible from the robot played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, or even the attitude of Zen and facetious of the liquid metal T-1000 robot played by Robert Patrick.

It is rather a dangerous and chaotic adventure that takes place, but without the qualities of the actors who made the success of James Cameron’s Terminator and Terminator 2.

The movie opens with a scene in the corridor of death. We see Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a murderer who is about to give his body to science. Several decades later, Wright awoke suddenly in 2018.

He discovers that humans are at war against Skynet, an artificial intelligence. It is John Connor, the messiah of the future, that is leading the fight against Skynet. This time, the role is up to Christian Bale.

Terminator 3 movie review

This is not a happy movie!

Surrounded by death, the Terminators and some rappers that became actors, it is more than plausible that Connor becomes serious and angry.

Whether it is appropriate to the context or not, it nevertheless leaves a void at the heart of this movie, because there are no heroes to whom we can engage in an empathetic view.

To those who say that a lighter tone would be detrimental to the nightmarish vision of history, I would like to point out that this movie is about killer machines, not reality.

Unfortunately, Terminator Salvation (Redemption, 4, or whatever), even if it has enough action and adrenaline to earn a fairly positive review, has also the same fantasy and humor of a Maytag washer.

Like usual, the trailer: