Director: Ruben Fleischer
Writer: Will Beall (screenplay),Paul Lieberman (novel)
Released: January 2013
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone and Sean Penn
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Wow! I was so looking forward to seeing this and boy was it worth the wait!
It certainly reminded me of Public Enemies (featuring Johnny Depp) for obvious reasons; both based on a true story, both take place in the forties involving Los Angeles gangsters. However, the stories are clearly different.
Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling reunite again since Crazy, Stupid, Love. Both of them are fantastic together once again. Two of my favourite actors, for sure!
A very appropriate choice of lighting (or lack of) on the director’s behalf which made the feel of the movie accurate. It was rough and dangerous, yet still attractive. I am sure that the amount of people who smoked in that era was not exaggerated in the movie, too. Every interior scene was smoky, which was not only historically accurate but very artistic as it diffused the harsh lighting within the dim rooms.
I remember mentioning that I thought that there was not enough car chases in the incredible forties vehicles in Public Enemies… Well, it is safe to say that there are plenty in this movie. At least 60% of the movie are car chases or gun fights.
Unfortunately, I have to mention that the gun fights began to go on for a bit too long within some parts, stopping and starting all over the place with very few people ever getting hit by bullets. Perhaps taking the attention away from the more personal stories that could have been developed further, meaning that attachment to the characters was not quite as possible as they could have been. I think to make the gun fights more attention grabbing, some more slow motion action would have been effective.
Overall, a very exciting film set in one of my favourite time periods. A time with incredible fashion, immaculate cars and terrifyingly powerful gangsters.
Loved the wicked fists fights and sadistic criminals!
Jodie’s Rating: 7/10
NZ Film Freak 