Public Enemies

First Hit: Basically a bunch a scenes, some with gun fights some without, thrown together with some semblance of sequence.

Johnny Depp is great to watch and this film is no exception. However there are fatal flaws in the execution of Public Enemies.

First; outside of an initial placing of the time, there is no time sequence or reference to the story. The scenes give no indication that this film takes place over a week, month, year or years. No one ages in this film so I’m thinking a couple of years or so, who knows.

Second, there is very little character building. Outside of a single reference to his past, Dillinger (played by Depp) hasn’t established why robbing banks are so important to him. The best character building is with Dillinger’s girlfriend Billie Frechette (played by Marion Cotillard). On more than one occasion Billie talks about her background and reason for her chosen life. Christian Bale, playing Melvin Purvis the FBI agent assigned to get Dillinger dead or alive, gave no reason why he basically walked through this film as a good looking wooden board (believe me he’s better than this).

Third, I didn’t sense or feel any chemistry between Cotillard and Depp. As a couple they were mostly lifeless and only Dillinger’s insistence on having a relationship was the basis for them being together. I didn't care about their relationship.

Michael Mann who directed and co-wrote this film needs to take full responsibility for its failings. He had great actors (there are some fabulous actors in this film, just look at the credits) and a compelling subject. Depp was, at times, really worth watching. Cotillard was also very good at times. Bale was non-existent and the best part of the film was Stephen Graham as Baby Face Nelson, total lunatic.

Overall: This was a long waste of time interrupted by moments of brilliance.

The Hurt Locker

First Hit: Wow! This film is extremely well directed and acted and effectively brings a powerful reflection of war to life on the big screen.

Having spent 19 months in the Vietnam War I have a little experience with what war is like. Each war is unique and in their own venue is full of its own distinct particular problems.

Hurt Locker is about Iraq and a specialized group of men, the elite Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit. This film focuses on one team of these specialized group of men whose job is to clear road mines, car bombs and other explosive traps and situations. Doing their job helps to protect the civilian and US soldier population in Baghdad from surprise bombings.

Staff Sergeant William James (played by Jeremy Renner) joins two others as their leader after the previous team leader lost his life attempting to defuse a roadside bomb. James is brash, brazen and appears to have little regard to the protocol of the job.

One of the things that keeps this film’s suspense right in the for front is that we’re always aware of how many days this unit has remaining in their current tour of duty. They are very close to going home and starting with day 38, tension begins to arrive with each new and increasingly dangerous mission.

While the team is cognizant of how close they are to leaving Iraq, James' level of disregard for the bombs he is diffusing enhances this tension.

However, as this film moves along, you begin to see James' driven madness to diffuse every bomb as a genuine obsessed respect and addiction for his job because he prides himself in his ability to figure out how to beat the bombers' intentions and bomb making skills.

Kathryn Bigelow directs this film superbly. From the moment the celluloid hits the white screen, you drop into this film. There is no escaping it and most of the time it feels as though you are watching a polished documentary. It feels real. Mark Boal was the writer and must be given kudos for creating a script that reflects so many different aspects and feelings about war through the three main characters. Jeremy Renner as James, Anthony Mackie as Sanborn and Brian Geraghty as Eldridge are outstanding as soldiers’ representing different realistic feelings soldiers can find themselves embodying.

Overall: I cannot say enough about this film in the way it left everyone in the theater, slightly stunned, educated, and more aware about the real casualties of war.

Valkyrie

First Hit: This is an interesting story and it could have been made into a more interesting film.

Tom Cruise is one of those actors where his own personality and public persona often overrides his ability to play a role and act within a character.

In this film he plays Colonel Claus van Stauffenberg a German soldier who believes that Hitler is off track and needs to be removed from power.

But no matter how Cruise acts, I’m watching Tom Cruise pretending to be someone else (see my review of Doubt to note the difference). Early in the film his group of soldiers is attacked and, in this attack, Stauffenberg loses most of one arm, some fingers from his other remaining hand and one of his eyes. He gets shipped to Berlin and hooks up with others who feel that Hitler needs to be replaced.

Through his intense single-mindedness (this is how Cruise acts in all his films) he crafts the plan to assassinate Hitler.

One of the best parts of the film is when he is ordered to give the Heil Hitler salute and he thrusts is partial arm out of his uniform sleeve and shouts “Heil Hitler”.

One of the unnerving things about this film is that all of the lead actors have a different accent. Granted having actors speak English allows the film to have a wider audience but here we have Germans portrayed by Americans, English and German actors all speaking their version of English and none of the accents match. Odd at first and then I just quit letting it bother me.

Overall: The story was very interesting and one I didn’t know anything about, but I couldn’t help but think with a different director and set of actors it might have been a much better film.

Quantum of Solace

First Hit: Daniel Craig is easily and solidly my 2nd favorite Bond. He brings a view and character that has definitely moved this franchise forward.

Daniel Craig has, by far and away, been the best choice to move this 22 Bond film franchise forward.

This isn’t to take away from the small incremental steps the other Bond men tried to take after Sean Connery. But, they were always trying to be somewhat like Sean and none of them made Bond their own. Craig has done this splendidly.

However, if they don’t scale back on the action just a tad and up the deepening of the character, then this franchise might hit another lull. Casino Royale was filled with action but also it let the new James Bond be developed through the action.

In Quantum of Solace, the development of the story and character slipped a bit and depended too much on action and action sequences. The story begins where Casino Royal left off (which is a good thing and something maybe a practice they can continue).

James is not only doing his job but he is also looking for an answer as to why is big love, Vesper, died and maybe betrayed him at the end of Casino Royale. Joining him on this journey is Olga Kurylenko playing Camille a woman who has a deep rooted grudge against the upcoming leader of Bolivia.

This country is in play in this film because the antagonist, Dominic Greene (played by Mathieu Amalric) is destabilizing the government so that he can grab a parcel of land. Bond is trying to find out why and along the way he is being set up by the CIA and others for the deaths of co-workers and allies.

My biggest issue with this film is the lack of character development for Greene and Camille and a lack of continued character development of Bond. I also felt that the action sequences needed to use less hand held cameras because they muddled the action (or hid the preposterousness of the action). I would like all directors to start letting the action speak for itself and not use the camera to create action. I do really like the energy and feeling Craig brings to Bond. I like that there isn’t a telegraphing of the use of gizmos and Judi Dench brings a bit of humanness to “M.”

Overall: Although well below Casino Royale (yes there are mistakes in Royal) in many ways, Craig manages to keep this film above board, watchable, and exciting.

Max Payne

First Hit: This film was a mix of comic book and video like video acting with a made up sense of something otherworldly.

Although it was nice to see Beau Bridges in a film again, this pleasure (along with his part) wasn’t enough to make this movie worthwhile.

What is the story here? We slowly figure out that Mark Wahlberg (playing Max Payne) is sitting in cop purgatory because it is the only way he can work on trying to figure out who killed his wife and child. Well maybe that was the reason or plot, who knows.

There is also a mystery drug involved that allows people to feel strong and invincible but it only works for some people. There are also weird flying people/spirits who are more like shadow people that only can be seen by people who take the drug but it doesn’t agree with them.

And there is a lady who is head of a corporation who somehow is in-charge of stuff but isn’t. Bridges plays the head of security for the corporation but seems to have more authority than head of security would normally get. What do these discordant sentences mean? Not much but it is reflective of the film.

This film is a mess. There is very little plot line stringing this story together and overall spending time trying to make it work in my mind made me bored. Wahlberg is sinking fast because the last two films I’ve seen him in he is either overacting or plodding along trying to make something interesting when there is nothing that makes the story compelling.

Overall: Although there were 14 – 17 year old young people in the theater who ooohed and ahhhed, I don’t get how films like this make so much money. It was a waste of film, special effects, and Beau Bridges time. The one redeeming value is that on a hot day the cool theater made the wait for the film to end worthwhile.