Michael Mann directing a period gangster flick? With Johnny Depp as John Dillinger? And Christian Bale playing an obsessed agent on his tail? What more could you ask for?
That’s Public Enemies in a nutshell, one of Depp’s, and indeed Mann’s most underrated movies. We’ll be the first to admit that it has its flaws and is far from either of their best work, with the film lacking some of the riveting, pulse-quickening entertainment that many of Mann’s efforts are known for. But still, it certainly didn’t deserve the 68% Rotten Tomatoes score that it ended up with.
After all, the attention to detail in the period setting, Depp and Bale’s performances and lush sets and gorgeous costumes all come together to make a pretty rich viewing experience, and it seems that many Netflix viewers would agree, as the pic has been dominating on the platform this week.
After making its debut on the streaming site just a few days ago, Public Enemies has now shot up the charts, currently finding itself at the #8 spot on the Top 10 Overall list and #3 on the Top 10 Movies list. And given that it’s only been available for a few days, we imagine it’ll climb higher by the end of the week.
As mentioned above, Public Enemies has some flaws, and it wouldn’t be considered the most impressive piece of work from Johnny Depp, but it’s a very enjoyable film with a lot to like about it. And with the movie receiving some pretty mediocre reviews upon its original release, it’s likely that a lot of people skipped it.
But now it’s on Netflix for your viewing pleasure and if you’ve never seen it, or saw it when it first came out but haven’t revisited it since, feel free to flip it on tonight and see if perhaps the critics were wrong about it back in 2009.
