Public Enemies

Click to enlargeThere was a period, a few years ago, where every other film that came out was a ‘gangster’ film. Far from being the social commentary of movies like White Heat (1949), Bonnie and Clyde (1967) or Scarface (1932), these ‘gangster’ films were populated by mockney (fake cockneys for those with only half a brain) wideboys with egos bigger than their dicks whose only claim to infamy was half-baked marijuana racquets and fixing underground boxing matches. Okay, so I’m picking on Guy Ritchie’s first two films, but he single-handedly ruined the modern gangster film. They have there place, sure, but all that these films said about gangsters was, they might be “shoot you in the face and spit on your twitching corpse” dangerous, but they were fucking idiots! But, as much as I loved Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, I yearned for something with a little more substance. As with everything, the fashion for retarded 'crims' and heist flicks has passed. It is at this point that Michael Mann returns to the genre that started his career, with Public Enemies.

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