"Public Enemies"

Larry and I went to see Johnny Depp's blockbuster tonight. Kind of disappointing. A well-made movie, and JD is excellent, as always, giving a really nuanced performance and making the movie very watchable. But it wasn't as good as it should have been. The first half is better - very interesting, with some nice scenes about the development of the FBI and the culture of the times. But overall, it's pretty predictable. And it really wastes the talents of the many fine actors it employed - Christian Bale gets very little to do with what should have been a fascinating character. Billy Crudup, as J Edgar Hoover, is only in 2 or 3 scenes, which is a shame. Even Marion Cotillard does what she can, but her character is seriously underwritten. There are at least 4 other movies of the Dillinger story. If Michael Mann felt compelled to make another one, he should have tried to do something fresh and different, instead of a fairly standard bio pic with a very standard story arc. And despite being based on a new book about the era by Bryan Burrough, a quick perusal of Wikipedia and a couple other sites reveals that the film took substantial liberties with historical fact. That diminishes the film even more, IMO. Not a waste of time, but not an especially memorable movie-going experience either.