Will Public Enemies Be Just Another Hollow Michael Mann Movie?
So Public Enemies, writer/director Michael Mann’s slick new crime drama, is getting pretty decent reviews, but reading them doesn’t exactly make us excited to see the damn thing. Mann is just so uneven—a technical wizard who ignores everything else.
There are whiffs of that sentiment coming off the reviews. Lisa Schwarzbaum at Entertainment Weekly says “Public Enemies re-creates clothes, but doesn’t fully fashion the man who wore them.” Which reads to us like the film is just another feat of stylish camerawork and deftly-applied new technologies (Enemies was filmed entirely in HD, for example). Schwarzbaum sends the film to critical no man’s land by giving it a listless B-. What are we to do with a B minus?
There’s no doubt that Mann is a supremely talented director—Manhunt is a plodding procedural picture that is probably the most adeptly faithful adaptation of Thomas Harris’ often florid prose (Silence of the Lambs is too lovely and sad and mysterious and wistful—it’s its own thing entirely). And Heat, well Heat is a crime movie to end all crime movies. There any dash of emotion and depth of feeling (thanks be to you, Diane Venora) was a welcome and surprising respite from what the film needed to be, which was grim and mechanical.
Manhola Dargis at the New York Times, one of our favourite film critics, gave the movie a rave, but language like this still makes us worry:
The same holds true of “Public Enemies,” which looks and plays like no other American gangster film I can think of and very much like a Michael Mann movie, with its emphasis on men at work, its darkly moody passages, eruptions of violence and pictorial beauty. Mr. Mann’s digital manipulations, in particular, which encompass almost pure abstraction and interludes of hyper-realism, is worthy of longer exegesis, one that explores how this still-unfamiliar format is changing the movies: it allows, among other things, filmmakers to capture the eerie brightness of nighttime as never before.
See, there she is being dazzled by the same magicks that have left us feeling all dour and depressed after all of the most recent Mann pictures. Sure Collateral looked great, but where was the genuine tension, where was the human spark that should have made us care about Jamie Foxx’s survival? Miami Vice had striking visual moments as well, but was otherwise cold as a fish flopping on a Key West dock. The whole “my partner got shot, oh my god” moments were swallowed up by Mann’s turgid music, his pallid, oppressive lighting. (And about that music. It’s a semi-known fact that Mann is going deaf, but still insists on doing his own audio mixing.)
Lately we’re worried that there really isn’t anything else up Mann’s sleeve but polished trickery. Public Enemies, what with the economy these days and all, could be a story of poor America bubbling over into revolt. And maybe it is! We haven’t seen it! But from the ten or so reviews we’ve read, it sounds mostly the same as everything else. And yet he’s still one of those few directors that thoughtful critics love to love. Because he shows them something gritty and dangerous and, most of all, cool, when most of the Good films they review these days are sparkling indies or message movies. Though it’s not like there aren’t other people making cannily-shot crime films—the sublime No Country for Old Men comes to mind. But there was something mysterious and existential and, well, deep at work in that movie that Mann has so far seemed unable to conjure.
What do you think? Can 66-year-old Michael Mann make a movie these days that’s hinged more heavily on story and character than on technical craft? Do you care?
Image via Getty
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
I was underwhelmed, but that was my fault since I thought Channing Tatum would have more than a cameo. Not to be a yesman, but I agree with so much has been said. The technical aspects are great -- hell, some scenes can even be described as beautiful -- but I felt like, by no real fault of the actors, I never knew who John Dillinger, Billie Frechette and Melvin Purvis were as people.
Excellent point, DavidWatts. Manohla is an ELITIST. She does not "laugh," because that is for the common people. God Manohla, grow up and realize you should laugh and not like what you like! You haughty bitch!
FabianMocker
I honestly think Diane Venora telling Al Pacino "I had to demean myself with Ralph in order to get closure with you" is the greatest line in the history of cinema.
@alorsenfants: Well, I'd love to disagree, and I think I disagree with most of your post (other than loving Heat), but I can't understand enough of what you're saying to be sure.
@SinisterRouge: I'm with you, but I just watched Mohicans on DVD and the shine has worn off. I am very anxious to get it on Blu-Ray to see if the Mann gloss comes back...
Bedheadjc
@BaconCat: Neil dies because he doesn't stick to his principles. You have to be 100% or you lose. Val Kilmer lives because his wife loves him so much. Al Pacino loves his job more than his family, and that's why he wins.
jacobestes
@mslewis: Heat, Collateral, and Ali were all amazing to me. I thought Last of the Mohicans was awful in comparison, and the same with Manhunter. I think his editing has gotten tighter since then. And sure it's cool that he uses contemporary music in his movies, but I'd say 2/3 queue's are a total miss.
jacobestes
It's Time to Play -- Agree To Disagree!
My side:
"Collateral" was Ruined by Tom Cruise (as per usual), along with a manipulative script, which (note) Michael Mann is not credited for.
"The Insider" and "Ali" fail to employ M. Mann in the ways that he really excels at.
Why doesn't anyone else care about "Thief"? Not perfect -- but very sharp, in many places?
Anyone with complaints about "Heat"... (except those who weren't happy with the actress playing Pacino's wife [who?]) ... I'll forgive you guys. What[?] Was she sleeping with someone fundamentally responsible for the project?
Well yes: if you did not revere "Heat" -- then back to Judd Apatow and Michael Bay you may go!
Sorry to be a bitch.
Oh (now you'll laugh) -- once upon a time I read scripts/manuscripts for Jerry Weintraub. When they handed me the typewritten copy of "The Silence of the Lambs", I concluded: 'No. It's Too gross'.
Silly me. Still think so though!
alorsenfants
There'll be two things that could keep Public Enemies from being another empty exercise in fancy lighting and hip soundtracking: Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. However, Depp and Bale are not warm performers. They have a certain remoteness and while lady-pleasing, come off as inaccessible. If the script is lacking in a strong human factor, the combination could leave the audience cold and kinda bored.
But really, look at all the great nineties directors. How many of them have managed to deliver anything of enduring quality after 2000? Steven Spielberg? Michael Bay ?(Yeah The Rock was dumb as, well, a box of rocks but its entertainment value holds up fantastically well after more than a decade) Andrew Davis? John Woo? Even Martin Scorcese. The fact is that a lot of big name directors suck major ass today, but the studios still revere them and audiences haven't realized that their best work was a whole decade ago. How many script-writers can write a good solid action flick today? When was the last time you saw a truly satisfying action movie that didn't leave you feeling like you drank a whole gallon of Diet Pepsi?
@J. Frank Parnell: I immediately bought the soundtrack after watching The Insider for the first time. Amazing work - the highlights of which are the a couple Dead Can Dance tracks that have since been used in several other films. I don't recall seeing another film where the music was able to convey the sense of despair and anxiety to the same degree.
@Colander: Not a blockbuster, but Kurt Loder's review of "Whatever Works" was hilarious. It was worse than Ebert's review of "Transformers".
mina324
How can you mention Mann and not mention 'The Insider'? And I don't see that he's fallen off of the technical cliff as hard as, say, Micheal Bay??
@mina324: Yeah, I soak up reviews once I've seen it, but I hold out 'til then. (Except for 'blockbusters,' since the reviews are usually hilarious.)
@Paul.B.Dodd: Agree to disagree? I don't think Mr. Cruise is a terribly talented actor. It has little (but, admittedly, something) to do with his antics off-screen.
@DaveCrabtree: I should have specified Pacino in The Insider, not Pacino in Heat. I usually mute the part in Heat when Pacino tries to talk slang to Tone Loc. I agree that he was the worst part of that movie.
@SinisterRouge: Completely agree and, as usual with Mann, the music plays a huge part. It's the best action scene in movie history scored by violins.
@J. Frank Parnell: Me too!
Except it was probably a Tower Records.
In Beaverton, Oregon.
And truth be told, I was disappointed that the version of "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters" was the album version, which I already had, and not the superior extended version that plays over the final credits. Finally got that via Moby's "I Like to Score" a few years later, although by then I'm not sure Tower was even in business, and I probably found it on Kazaa.
Heat pissed me off to no end. Talk about a brilliant movie with a terrible ending. All he had to do to make it perfect is have Neil look at all the cops in the hotel and get on the goddamned plane! He can come back in 6 months when the 'heat' is off and whack Wayne Groh at his leisure. It's a flawless movie if Pacino does not get what he wants. He's so much better as the guy who does the job of protecting us even though he can't catch the really badass guys.
BaconCat
@resipsaloquacious: That is my favorite scene in LOTM. Just gorgeous. Yes, it was North Carolina. What a perfect movie...action, romance, history (kinda!).
@Richard Petty Bourgeoisie: I think it may have to do with the kind of actor as opposed to his quality. Actors who are more internal (like De Niro or Day-Lewis or Crowe) do very well in his movies, while the scenery-chewers don't. Perhaps it's because Mann's movies are so static that the actors need to be as well (but they still have to act, of course), and too much attention-drawing or demonstrative acting feels off. Heat is an awesome movie, but I thought that Pacino was the weakest link in the cast.
@resipsaloquacious: No, he didn't, but he was the executive producer of the series, and the look of that show definitely had his imprint. Same with Crime Story, a great-looking crime drama starring Dennis Farina that ran about the same time. Rent the two-hour pilot episode, directed by Abel Ferrara. Television never looked so good.
That's why I avoid reading reviews of movies I want to see. If I'm on the fence about it, I'll read them. Or if it was universally panned and I want a laugh, I'll read them. Otherwise, I'd rather see for myself.
mina324
@mslewis:
Mohicans is awesome. So many great shots. My favorite is where they are running up the side of the mountain to save the sister. Magic. I think they shot in North Carolina.
resipsaloquacious
it's coen bros. and as much as I love michael mann, heat is an all time fave, and manhunter, and the insider, he has nothing on the coens. nothing. smug? how the hell does a filmmaker project smug? that's your issue, not their's
ArnoldJulisa
Miami Vice (the movie) has grown on me after a few watches. If you get past Sonny's mustache, mullet, silly, meandering accent and face/body bloat, he's not bad in the part.
I think Mann also directed the premier episode(s) of Miami Vice the show, and that still stands as some good freaking TV.
resipsaloquacious
I liked Collateral. Rather a lot. Also, The Insider.
@anxiousart: I loved The Insider; I could watch it on a continuous loop. Russell Crowe's acting talent provided the character heat in that film, he is very good at showing slowly burning rage.
I saw Public Enemies at an 11:45 am showing today in Toronto and I'm left a bit cold, there isn't very much character development, not even with Depp's Dillinger. Lots of shootouts, sigh. There's something odd about the effect of digital film in this movie, the daylight hours seemed very dull and I think most of the film was shot at night. It seemed very claustrophobic, I don't know what was going on there. I'm still processing it.
Xylo
@Lymed: Did you notice the director's fetish for Charlize Theron's feet?
Maybe you should watch fewer Cohen brothers' films, and check out a few by the Coen brothers. You might like 'em!@gabbo:
DaeSu
@anxiousart: The Insider is amazing. If you told me three hours of a talking heads could be compelling, I'd have called you a liar, but he made it work.
Actors didn't fail Collateral. The absurd premise failed it (a cab driver in the middle of LA can't simple come to a sudden stop and jump out?). And Miami Vice was a noble failure, that failure being humanity. Is there a single smile in the entire film? There were more in Manhunter.
@anxiousart: I think that I might be one of only about a dozen people that actually purchased the soundtrack to Heat.
The Sam Goody's hipster-dipshit clerk looked at my pending purchase, looked at me, looked back at my pending purchase, shrugged his shoulders and rang me up. I wasn't an old quite yet, so maybe he was wondering why I wasn't buying the obligatory Oasis album, because after all, it was 1995.
In a Sam Goody's.
In Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
J. Frank Parnell
I know nothing about how directors direct or how characters character . . . I only know that "Heat" and "Last of the Mohicans" were two of the best movies I have ever seen!! And "Manhunter" . . . well, it was amazing. I also know that "Ali" was the worse movie I've ever seen. I still can't believe the same man directed these movies. I flatly refused to see "Miami Vice" because I didn't want to continue to spoil my image of Michael Mann. I won't see this one either. I just want to remember him when he was brilliant.
I kind of disagree that it was the fault of the actors that "Colleteral" and "Ali" were failures. These actors know how to act and it's up to the director to get the best out of them. At least that's what I thought a director's job was. I could be wrong. I'm not a movie buff. I only know what I like. I can't vocalize why.
mslewis
@Lymed: Gutsy move. You're a shark. Sharks are winners, and they don't look back because they have no necks.
@anxiousart: I love Micheal Mann. They are beautiful, mostly entertaining few hours. He seems not to know how to edit though.....they go on beyond their expiration date.
The Insider is one of my all time faves.
I would just like to say that Manhola Dargis writes movie reviews like a 21-year-old film studies major. They are useless and worthless. I mean, who is she communicating with? My favorite is when they send her to like review a "normal" movie, like when she reviewed "Observe and Report." AS IF SHE HAS EVER LAUGHED.
@SinisterRouge: I agree. I thought Cruise was pretty good in Collateral as well. It goes to prove my belief that he CAN be a decent actor if he had a strong director(like Mann, PT Anderson in Magnolia) and actually listened instead of trying to produce, de-facto direct and act at the same time.
Paul.B.Dodd
I sat through Astronaut's Wife to watch Johnny Depp. Enough said.
Heat, of course, is a masterpiece. Also, I truly believe that The Insider is also in that category. Often overlooked outside of Russel Crowe, but I think Mann's style works brilliantly with a subject (the tabacco industry vs. a bunch of lawyers) that could be really dry. Here, his techniques work well, as in Heat. So, I'm hoping that at some point he'll take another crack at real-world, real-issue kinds of subject matter.
Also, he keeps using all that gloomy, weird Einsturzende Neubauten music. Kinda dig it, but it's the same piece...
anxiousart
@Richard Petty Bourgeoisie: Spot on. Except I disagree about Collateral . I thought Cruise was pretty great in that movie, though the Tom-is-weird meme was already out at that point. But I agree on the other points totally. I mean the man made Last of the Mohicans for Chrissake!
@airvault: Apparently a large distance if you think that's all Michael Mann's films are made of. He's a superb director. Odd you should bring up Heat as the example of how his characters don't "uncover themselves" being that that is exactly what the film does for all four of the main characters (you know there were some fabulous wonderful ladies in that film as well as Richard pointed out).
I'm holding out for the dry HD biblical epic Mann has up his sleeve.
the weird thing is, i feel that this static quality to characters in mann's digital films is an attractive aspect of them. its kind of acknowledging, "i'm not going to purport to simulate human development in a 2 hour visual/auditory experience." I guess this is what I mean when I say they are almost like art installations. you could take a 15 minute excerpt from one of his films and have almost the same kind of aesthetic experience as you get from watching them in their entirety. its just that the visual/auditory experience is so good. that damn camerawork is exceptional.
gabbo
Unless they've cleaned it up since the trailers came out, it looks like a cheap BBC movie of the week. Shooting daylight on digital was probably a mistake.
I like Mann's characters. You only get tiny hints at who they are, and you bring the rest to the story yourself. "There's no such thing as character development. Character is habitual action." David Mamet.
jacobestes
The last crime-like drama/thriller I saw was Pelham 123. Even if flawed, Public Enemies looks like opera by comparison. I'm there.
thebullfrog
I think his stinkers (Collateral, Ali, Miami Vice) stink because the actors in them stink (Cruise, Smith, Farrell). Mann puts so much time and effort into technical proficiency he has to trust his actors to bring spirit and marrow to his films. When he worked with Pacino, DeNiro, Daniel Day-Lewis, Brian Cox and Russell Crowe, the product was great. When he works with closeted space aliens or a bloated Dubliner going through withdrawal, his films suck.
So, yes, I do care. I don't really think his stinkers even stink too badly (other than Ali).
I've always kept Michael Mann at a distance. Like you said he's only good for a few tricks. "Look! It's Al and Robert! In the same shot!!" That's about it. There's a real lack of movement in his characters. You never get a true sense they're uncovering any real sense of themselves. It's funny that the most ardent supporters of digital film making are usually the one's least at ease with uncovering the human psyche. Digital gives you the look of reality. Film gives you the feeling.
Airvault
I don't care. Isn't there something highly existential (perhaps - dare I say it - Nietzschean!) about making a movie an almost purely aesthetic experience, rather than trying to wrap it in some 'deep' philosophical world view? Let me show you some stunning scenes and pair them with music that pounds and grabs hold of you. There were scenes like that in Miami Vice that just left me slackjawed and wordless. And I'll watch a movie 10 times over for an experience like that. His movies strike me as hybrids between conventional film and art installations. And I'll keep coming back to them while other people soak up the smug Cohen brothers.
Well, it's probably not Heat-great, but judging from the reviews it's better than both Collateral and Miami Vice so is probably worth a look.
"a technical wizard who ignores everything else" - this is how Mrs. Depardoo describes my sexual prowess.
depardoo