I had the opportunity to see this film screen in San Diego at the International Mobile Film Festival. The cinematography is expertly crafted and very often throughout the film you forget that it was filmed with a smartphone. It's a mystery wrapped in drama and sprinkled with a bit of humor. The actors are on point. I very much enjoyed watching the film and look forward to catching more work from these filmmakers.
Reviews
3 Reviews
Public Enemies
(2009)
Entertaining and fun, but short of deep and moving.
11 October 2016
If anything can be said about Michael Mann's Public Enemies, is that it is hardly a sensationalized version of John Dillinger's life. Depp plays Dillinger as having a good time robbing banks and breaking people out of prison, but the film itself doesn't portray these acts of crime and violence as fun, daring, or morally acceptable. Depp's character never stops to celebrate his victories or dance in glory. Unlike The Godfather or Goodfellas, where the audience is rooting for the criminals the entire time, Public Enemies does not take the same stance. Instead the movie portrays the tragedy of a man who has no other vice then to rob banks and the consequences of those actions.
Christian Bale plays, Merlvin Purvis, a newly appointed FBI agent assigned to hunt down American's number one public enemy, John Dillinger. Again, the film does not try to glorify the hay days of the 1930 and the fun and excitement one might get from day to day gun battles in the street. Purvis is a torched character, who seems to long for something besides massacring criminals on the street, in a sense he feels genuinely afraid of Dillinger – or afraid of failing to arrest him.
Like Mann's film Heat, this has a dramatic narrative and laced in between are hard hitting, and terrifying at times, gun battles. Where in other films, characters might be dodging bullet left and right, here Mann creates greats tension in the feeling that anyone of us might get shot. Many of the angles from the gun battles are looking down the barrel of a Tommy gun – like a third person shooter game. Mann does tend to keep the camera a little to close to the action and drama on screen. It would have great to see a few more wide angles. However, the aesthetic of the film is how close and shoulder lever the camera always is in respect to the characters, creating of feeling of being a part of the action or another character in that location.
This film is certainly a great film, with rich characters that probably are best brought to life through Depp and Bale. The only fault to this film, is that narrative it holds it's character entirely at arms length. Unlike Heat or The Insider, where we are drawn into the characters and their psyche, this film never lets us in. If it were not for Depp and Bale, we might even be a few more steps back then we all ready are. The perspective for the audience isn't as an audience member but as an observer who might be there watching them now. Public Enemies does have great acting and a lot of violence. It is entertaining and fun to watch, however Mann who usually puts out A+ material, falls a little short here. But still, Public Enemies is better than many of them films out there today.
Christian Bale plays, Merlvin Purvis, a newly appointed FBI agent assigned to hunt down American's number one public enemy, John Dillinger. Again, the film does not try to glorify the hay days of the 1930 and the fun and excitement one might get from day to day gun battles in the street. Purvis is a torched character, who seems to long for something besides massacring criminals on the street, in a sense he feels genuinely afraid of Dillinger – or afraid of failing to arrest him.
Like Mann's film Heat, this has a dramatic narrative and laced in between are hard hitting, and terrifying at times, gun battles. Where in other films, characters might be dodging bullet left and right, here Mann creates greats tension in the feeling that anyone of us might get shot. Many of the angles from the gun battles are looking down the barrel of a Tommy gun – like a third person shooter game. Mann does tend to keep the camera a little to close to the action and drama on screen. It would have great to see a few more wide angles. However, the aesthetic of the film is how close and shoulder lever the camera always is in respect to the characters, creating of feeling of being a part of the action or another character in that location.
This film is certainly a great film, with rich characters that probably are best brought to life through Depp and Bale. The only fault to this film, is that narrative it holds it's character entirely at arms length. Unlike Heat or The Insider, where we are drawn into the characters and their psyche, this film never lets us in. If it were not for Depp and Bale, we might even be a few more steps back then we all ready are. The perspective for the audience isn't as an audience member but as an observer who might be there watching them now. Public Enemies does have great acting and a lot of violence. It is entertaining and fun to watch, however Mann who usually puts out A+ material, falls a little short here. But still, Public Enemies is better than many of them films out there today.
The Taking of Pelham 123
(2009)
It is a cross between the tensions from Crimson Tide with the buddy cop friendship from Die Hard.
11 October 2016
If you've seen more than one Tony Scott film than you all ready know the drill: Fast pace photography set to either rock in roll music or a Harry Gregson-Williams score (his 7th Scott film). The Taking of Pelham 123 is no exception, it mixes just the right amount of both rock in roll music and a film score with that stylized Tony Scott pacing.
In this remake of The Taking of Pelham 123, Denzel Washington re- teams with Scott for the fourth time as a MTA dispatcher who is thrust into a hostage negotiation situation as John Travolta has high jacked a New York City subway train and demands $10 Million in one hour. The bulk of the movie is the performance of Travolta and Washington batting it out over the radio. It is a cross between the tensions from Crimson Tide with the buddy cop friendship from Die Hard. The depth of the story all but ends on this one idea, the hijacking, then bring in James Gandolfini (his 3rd Scott film) and John Turturro to help with the tension in the story.
The weakest aspect of this film is the lack of sophistication and ingenuity surrounding the heist itself. This isn't like The Inside Man, where the hostage takers are constantly one step ahead of the police. Travolta's character is a cross between his characters in Swordfish and Pulp Fiction, only with a little more crank and steroids.
This helps give the film the edge that other heist films lack, and is actually the strongest aspect of this movie. Travolta doesn't just threaten to kill hostages, he kills hostages. His plan doesn't consist of a Plan B, because Plan B is reinforcing Plan A; which is killing hostages. Travolta's character is dangerous and on the edge, just enough where we need him to be to keep the suspense alive. Denzel Washington's character isn't a police officer or a hostage negotiator. He's just another guy, stuck in an extraordinary circumstance.
This movie is fast, hard hitting, and on the edge. Every gun shot, car crash, and even the dialogue is like a punch in the stomach. What is refreshing about this film is that it doesn't rely on special computer effects to entertain. It has classically good film making that is still suspenseful and hard hitting. And has just enough high jacking to echo the past events in New York, but not so much to take from the fact that it is just a movie. Really, just another Tony Scott roller coaster, but it is hard not to love it!
In this remake of The Taking of Pelham 123, Denzel Washington re- teams with Scott for the fourth time as a MTA dispatcher who is thrust into a hostage negotiation situation as John Travolta has high jacked a New York City subway train and demands $10 Million in one hour. The bulk of the movie is the performance of Travolta and Washington batting it out over the radio. It is a cross between the tensions from Crimson Tide with the buddy cop friendship from Die Hard. The depth of the story all but ends on this one idea, the hijacking, then bring in James Gandolfini (his 3rd Scott film) and John Turturro to help with the tension in the story.
The weakest aspect of this film is the lack of sophistication and ingenuity surrounding the heist itself. This isn't like The Inside Man, where the hostage takers are constantly one step ahead of the police. Travolta's character is a cross between his characters in Swordfish and Pulp Fiction, only with a little more crank and steroids.
This helps give the film the edge that other heist films lack, and is actually the strongest aspect of this movie. Travolta doesn't just threaten to kill hostages, he kills hostages. His plan doesn't consist of a Plan B, because Plan B is reinforcing Plan A; which is killing hostages. Travolta's character is dangerous and on the edge, just enough where we need him to be to keep the suspense alive. Denzel Washington's character isn't a police officer or a hostage negotiator. He's just another guy, stuck in an extraordinary circumstance.
This movie is fast, hard hitting, and on the edge. Every gun shot, car crash, and even the dialogue is like a punch in the stomach. What is refreshing about this film is that it doesn't rely on special computer effects to entertain. It has classically good film making that is still suspenseful and hard hitting. And has just enough high jacking to echo the past events in New York, but not so much to take from the fact that it is just a movie. Really, just another Tony Scott roller coaster, but it is hard not to love it!
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