Public Enemies was the worst movie so far this summer

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
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I've seen all the big movies this summer (for better or for worse) and so far Public Enemies has been worse than all of them. Worse than Terminator, Transformers, ALL OF THEM. It was so slow that I was fighting staying awake. They focused a lot on Dillinger's lady friend which threw off the entire movie. It's like Pearl Harbor in that you expect some decent action and stuff, but it ends up feeling more like a chick flick. Definitely not what I expected.
 

Wheezer

Diamond Member
Nov 2, 1999
6,731
1
81
so what you're saying is all the good parts are shown in the trailer?

thanks for the warning.
 
Apr 17, 2005
13,465
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what movies do you really like and which ones do you really hate? i can't really make use of your suggestion unless i know that.
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,739
454
126
Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad
what movies do you really like and which ones do you really hate? i can't really make use of your suggestion unless i know that.

I'm not sure how to answer as I have a pretty wide taste. I love older ganster movies which is why I was so excited for this. I also really enjoy Depp and Bale as actors so I was excited to see them in the same movie as well regardless of what the movie would be about. The trailers just paint a picture of a great gangster movie with good action and great actors. What it turns out to be is a slower movie with some gangsters in it, and a couple of decent scenes overall.
 

Mo0o

Lifer
Jul 31, 2001
24,227
3
76
I agree. The pacing was terrible and Mann took too much of teh swagger out of a cool gangster flick. The trailer had established a realy different tone.

A lot of the gun scenes felt too drawn out with no real purpose other than to just shoot guns. At least in Heat you can feel a real tension and need for the bank robbers to escape. In PE, its just two sides shooting randomly.

And the whole giovanni ribisi side plot was completely pointless
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,739
454
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Originally posted by: Mo0o
I agree. The pacing was terrible and Mann took too much of teh swagger out of a cool gangster flick. The trailer had established a realy different tone.

A lot of the gun scenes felt too drawn out with no real purpose other than to just shoot guns. At least in Heat you can feel a real tension and need for the bank robbers to escape. In PE, its just two sides shooting randomly.

And the whole giovanni ribisi side plot was completely pointless

Did you have much trouble following who was who when they were all running through the forests shooting and whatnot? The only one I could track was Babyface because of his ridiculously annoying voice. Everybody friggin looked and dressed alike so I couldn't tell them apart.
 

imported_Imp

Diamond Member
Dec 20, 2005
9,148
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Originally posted by: gorcorps
Originally posted by: Mo0o
I agree. The pacing was terrible and Mann took too much of teh swagger out of a cool gangster flick. The trailer had established a realy different tone.

A lot of the gun scenes felt too drawn out with no real purpose other than to just shoot guns. At least in Heat you can feel a real tension and need for the bank robbers to escape. In PE, its just two sides shooting randomly.

And the whole giovanni ribisi side plot was completely pointless

Did you have much trouble following who was who when they were all running through the forests shooting and whatnot? The only one I could track was Babyface because of his ridiculously annoying voice. Everybody friggin looked and dressed alike so I couldn't tell them apart.

I could track Bale and the veteran FBI guy. That's it, I actually confused Depp and two other guys who got shot. And I was so damn glad that Babyface's death was nice and drawn out. What an annoying piece of shit who should have died earlier.

Pacing and action scenes were too abundant and drawn out. After the first 3 bank robberies, I got tired of them. Character development was non-existant aside from Depp. I didn't care one bit about the different crews. You felt something for everyone in Heat.
 

Al Neri

Diamond Member
Jan 12, 2002
5,680
1
81
This was one of the worst movies I've seen in the theaters... and I've seen some doozies...
 

jonks

Lifer
Feb 7, 2005
13,918
20
81
Summer began June 21, so what you're saying is it's the worst movie released in the last 2 weeks. I believe that's called "faintly damning".
 

R Nilla

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2006
3,835
1
0
Does that mean this movie is as slow, boring and vacuous as Miami Vice? I was looking forward to Public Enemies. I don't mind movies that are relatively slow or uneventful, but they still have to be interesting.
 

Barfo

Lifer
Jan 4, 2005
27,539
212
106
Worse than Terminator and Transformers? Says a lot about OP (That he's dumb).
 

PhaZe

Platinum Member
Dec 13, 1999
2,880
0
76
I think the movie would have been much better with wide shots. Most of it was shot close to the actors face.
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,739
454
126
Originally posted by: jonks
Summer began June 21, so what you're saying is it's the worst movie released in the last 2 weeks. I believe that's called "faintly damning".

My summer begins when school ends.

Originally posted by: Barfo
Worse than Terminator and Transformers? Says a lot about OP (That he's dumb).

Or that I never expected Terminator or Transformers to be great anyway, so they weren't really surprises. It was a huge surprise how bad Public Enemies was. Have you seen all 3 to comment on them?
 

SP33Demon

Lifer
Jun 22, 2001
27,928
142
106
Originally posted by: Imp
Originally posted by: gorcorps
Originally posted by: Mo0o
I agree. The pacing was terrible and Mann took too much of teh swagger out of a cool gangster flick. The trailer had established a realy different tone.

A lot of the gun scenes felt too drawn out with no real purpose other than to just shoot guns. At least in Heat you can feel a real tension and need for the bank robbers to escape. In PE, its just two sides shooting randomly.

And the whole giovanni ribisi side plot was completely pointless

Did you have much trouble following who was who when they were all running through the forests shooting and whatnot? The only one I could track was Babyface because of his ridiculously annoying voice. Everybody friggin looked and dressed alike so I couldn't tell them apart.

I could track Bale and the veteran FBI guy. That's it, I actually confused Depp and two other guys who got shot. And I was so damn glad that Babyface's death was nice and drawn out. What an annoying piece of shit who should have died earlier.

Pacing and action scenes were too abundant and drawn out. After the first 3 bank robberies, I got tired of them. Character development was non-existant aside from Depp. I didn't care one bit about the different crews. You felt something for everyone in Heat.

Lol, I actually did the same thing and confused Depp and the others. It kept switching back and forth with the scene in the woods and the other group that it was hard for me to follow. Meh.

All in all, the movie was ok but was really drawn out. The scenes where Depp breaks out are good but the rest just felt a little forced, especially on the character development. For example, it says at the end that Bale's character killed himself a year later. Why not leave time for that instead of the foreshadowing (in the movie theater) of Depp's death? If they had developed Bale's character a little more (vice the plethora of personality-devoid gangsters) it would have been intriguing to know just exactly what demons drove him to commit suicide (e.g. Did Dillenger's death haunt him? Was catching him affecting his family life through stress or drug use?). Meh, 2.5/5 stars.

 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
52,129
45,167
136
Public Enemies was quite underwhelming and at many points flat out boring.

I know Transformers and Terminator are just hollow summer popcorn action fare but as least I wasn't nodding off during them.

Mann has been in a slump since the horrid Miami Vice.
 

Barfo

Lifer
Jan 4, 2005
27,539
212
106
Originally posted by: gorcorps
Originally posted by: Barfo
Worse than Terminator and Transformers? Says a lot about OP (That he's dumb).

Or that I never expected Terminator or Transformers to be great anyway, so they weren't really surprises. It was a huge surprise how bad Public Enemies was. Have you seen all 3 to comment on them?

Yes, Terminator and Transformers rank way lower on my list than this, and I kinda liked it, could've been much better but it was not too bad.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,743
31,110
146
I find it hard to believe that ANYTHING from Michael Mann is somehow inferior to anything from the Bay/McG tag team of terror.

I'll suspend criticism until I see it (Public Enemy is maybe the only "summer flick" that I've wanted to see this year).

Until then, I will assume OP is lame and incapable of rational thought.
 

slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,679
119
106
I don't understand the bashing of this movie. Was it great? no. Was it good? I thought so. Was it full of action for being a drama? damn right. I've heard a few people say there was no action, and that it was a love story. It was FAR from it. It was a good movie in comparison to a lot of garbage out there these days. Had a very authentic feel to it. Its no classic by any means, but it was solid. Too long and sometimes slow, but there were a ton of action scenes and not many "love" scenes