Public Enemies (2009) Critic Reviews

The parts, in other words, promise a brilliant whole. So why is this movie one of the signal disappointments of the year? You have to go back to the basics: Public Enemies has everything going for it except a reason and a script.Read the full review

This is a very good film, with Depp and Bale performances of brutal clarity. I'm trying to understand why it is not quite a great film. I think it may be because it deprives me of some stubborn need for closure.Read the full review

As filmmaker Michael Mann takes pains to emphasize in his handsome, underheated gangster drama Public Enemies, the gent may have been murderous, but he had style.Read the full review

Simultaneously an art film and a crime film, Mann's latest work may not give you a ton to hang on to emotionally, but the beauty and skill of the filmmaking keep you tightly in its grasp.Read the full review

It's quite engaging. It is competently constructed and often compelling, but it will not be mentioned in the same breath as some of its classic predecessors.Read the full review

Public Enemies comes at you like Dillinger did: all of a sudden. It's movie dynamite.Read the full review

If Public Enemies lacks anything, it's something audiences can't legitimately expect to find: a certain EXTRA something.Read the full review

It's like spending an afternoon--a long one--at a beautifully lit wax-museum display inspired by earlier gangster movies.Read the full review

The film lacks the juice promised by the teaming of such extraordinary filmmakers with a cast as large as a Hooverville encampment.Read the full review