"Enemigos Publicos" (or 'Public Enemies') Review

I'll take a break today to write a short movie review. We ventured back to Valle Oriente for a 7pm viewing of the recent movie, Public Enemies. First of all, I am going to start watching every movie with Spanish subtitles. You learn so much of the language and pick up cool sayings, as well (I can say "Bullshit!" now in Spanish!) Second, the movies are dirt cheap compared to the US. A prime time viewing was 57 pesos, or 4.33 US dollars. Cheap.

I enjoyed the movie. I thought Johnny Depp was spectacular, as usual, and has firmly secured himself as one of the top two-to-three actors alive right now (next to Daniel Day Lewis, everybody is a schmuck). He looked like Dillinger and did not possess that Depp persona he normally carries in his movies, thereby seperating himself from any previous performance of his own. I also thought Marion Cotillard was too good for this movie. She is quickly becoming a hot ticket on the acting scene, as was evidenced by her Academy Award for "La Vie en Rose". She was amazing. Christian Bale, as Melvin Purvis, and Billy Crudup (aka PRE from "Without Limits"), as closet crossdresser J. Edgar Hoover, were both terrific. The cast was well assembled, I will give the casting directors credit for that.

The shootouts were fantastic. Just blew the speakers off the wall. And the blood and gore bordered on Tarintino, but was not overly dramatic or ridiculous (with the possible exception of the cheek shot to Dillinger at the end).

I felt like half the movie was filmed during Cloverfield. If you get nauseous easily, stay away. Can they not use a SteadyCam? Also, the lighting was at time too dark. There were also too many characters and they weren't plumbed for an emotional connection of some sort. They were cardboard cutouts we were supposed to feel for (the character "Red" comes to mind). I also was confused as people were dying left and right who was who. It all became very confusing. The pacing was also a bit slow. I didn't mind so much, but the others in my group were bothered by it. Finally, I wanted to see some more concrete locations. Perhaps I just wanted a subtitle during the Greencastle bank robbery (or what I suspected was the Greencastle bank robbery), but it was hard to keep track where Dillinger and his gang were at all times, and I'm even familiar with his story and trail.

All told, very good movie, bordering on great, that is more for the guys than the ladies, but does present a wonderful picture for history buffs. 3 1/2 stars out of 5

Two side notes:

1. Behind us in the theatre, about halfway through, some teenagers kept moving around, playing musical seats, getting in our way, kicking the back of our seats, etc. They finally settled directly behind us and were talking and playing on their phones, making tons of noise. Both Jeff and Ashley were getting really annoyed and it was a critical point in the movie. So, I turned around and said, "Silencio, por favor" ('Quiet, please.') It worked. They moved. Successful conversational Spanish 1.
2. On our cab ride home, we ended up with a shady guy who kept looking at a rate sheet instead of the meter, which he turned off halfway through. When we arrived home, the cab ride we have taken twice now (both costing around 85 pesos) was 170 pesos according to this "sheet". It was ridiculous. That's approxiamtely 13 US dollars. Complete and utter rip-off. So we were taken for the first, and most likely, not last time. Live and learn. Live and learn...