THE year is 1933, the height of the Great Depression, and it's the golden age for bank robbers, particularly public enemy No 1, John Dillinger.
PUBLIC ENEMIES (15)
Strong story wins out over dodgy cinematography
THE year is 1933, the height of the Great Depression, and it's the golden age for bank robbers, particularly public enemy No 1, John Dillinger.
Public Enemies begins with an audacious prison break-in that allows Dillinger (Johnny Depp) to bust out some of his cronies, and then it's straight on to their main business of relieving banks throughout the Midwest of mountains of cash.
Christian Bale meanwhile plays Melvin Purvis, an agent with the Bureau of Investigation, tasked with bringing Dillinger in. His boss, J Edgar Hoover, (Billy Crudup), sick and tired that criminals can cross state lines to avoid capture, is looking for funds to make his bureau a federal body, meaning they can chase criminals everywhere and anywhere.
What follows is a fine chase-and-evade thriller that works very well as a manhunt but which never quite convinces as a character drama. Although consistently entertaining and exciting, something is missing - though it's difficult to put a finger on exactly what.
This Dillinger is almost like a rock star, as concerned with getting his name in the paper as he is robbing banks. The fledgling feds meanwhile are struggling with new, fangled technology and telling the two stories in parallel works well.
There's an extended period in the middle after Dillinger is briefly caught then escapes again, where the movie really comes to life. The rattle of Tommy guns informs the best scenes, and director Michael Mann orchestrates several brilliant set pieces, though nothing quite on a par with his central gun battle in Heat, although a woodland shootout comes close.
Depp plays Dillinger with swagger and charisma and Marion Cotillard (an Oscar winner for playing Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose) impresses as his moll, and it's nice to see Bale doing something a bit different from his usual growling and posturing.
It's handsome, though never quite operatic enough to rival the very best the genre has to offer, but the fact that it was shot on digital video instead of film simply can't be overlooked. It's not an immediately obvious or constant problem, but the images regularly looks blurry when the camera moves or cheap when the scene is bright.
You can understand why Mann would use it in a contemporary setting on something like Collateral, but on a period film it leaves many scenes looking like they were shot by some bloke with a camcorder, and much of the time it just doesn't look like a film set in the 1930s.
It's a baffling artistic decision that almost hamstrings the entire production, but at least the content is strong enough to speak for itself.
Running Time: 140 mins
Director: Michael Mann
ICE AGE 3 - DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS (U)
It's a Jurassic disaster
LAMENTING the fact that most animated films these days don't come close to the quality of Pixar's releases is an exercise in futility.
Rival studios like Dreamworks and, in this case, Fox, may be trying their best but most of their efforts plain stink and there's very little we can do about it.
Ice Age 3 is a major step backwards from the solid Ice Age 2, which managed to expand the world of the first movie while being funny and delivering an un-preachy global warming message. Instead we're given a tired and dreary adventure, completely lacking in wit or invention. Animated comedies should never be boring, but tedium is a constant threat throughout this film.
Kids will start to get itchy during an opening stretch that's more domestic drama than animated romp, as Manny the mammoth (Ray Romano, bored stiff instead of just his usual laid back) gets anxious about his impending fatherhood with Ellie (Queen Latifah), and sabre-tooth tiger Diego (Denis Leary) suffers a mid-life crisis.
Meanwhile dopey sloth Sid (John Leguizamo) has come into possession of a trio of eggs and believes he has become a mommy. Sid ends up being taken by the real mother, and when the gang go looking for him, it turns out they've been living above a lost world the whole time, one where dinosaurs still rule the earth.
Be warned, the screening I attended was packed with kids, and one was heard to say "It's not funny," while restless tots roamed the aisles in search of entertainment.
Laughs are hard to come by. And while the 3D animation is rich and deep, and the physical set pieces offer some interest, they mostly involve sliding down mountains or dinosaur tails.
Where are the larger themes and the engaging characters, the things we take for granted from a Pixar production?
Most of the characters just seem to be along for the ride, adding nothing and going nowhere. Simon Pegg turns up as a psychotic weasel who helps the gang in their search, but even he is powerless against the dismal tide.
Only the figurehead of the series, the manic squirrel Scrat, offers any respite with his eternal search for acorns, and his ongoing battle with a feisty female combines imaginative animation with real wit.
It's sad to report that Ice Age 3 spends more time searching for jokes and a plot than it does for Sid. In fact, it's the worst things Dreamworks has served up in recent years.
