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Went and saw it tonight with Nic and my Mother and I have to say, I have very mixed feelings about this movie.
Basically the best thing about this movie for me personally was the accuracy to time period weapons. Winchester 94s, Thompson Submachine Guns, BARs, 1911s, Winchester 10 gauge shotguns, Remington Model 8s etc, all on screen in their blazing glory, cutting down good guys and bad guys alike in both the forest, city and off the sides of vehicles. The opening scene were Bale guns down Pretty Boy Floyd with a bolt action Mannlicher-Schoenauer style bolt and a set trigger (which was actually used) really set a precedent for the rest of the movie, and the gunplay was the best I've seen in for a movie of that time period.
Depp does well, plays the part well, Bale is Bale, and plays the same character in almost every movie, so pass. No problems there or with the rest of the cast. I could go on about the fact that they got a blue eyed french woman to play a native american, but I'll let it slide since I don't really care.
What I had wished they had done was build a little bit more of a backstory with some of the other gangsters like Baby Face Nelson. They never explain why he is such a fucking loony toon who loves to gun down cops or why Dillinger is the only one that can control him. Character Development simply doesn't happen in this film - at all.
And for the worst part, for me at least, was either the fact that the entire movie was filmed in HD OR the fact that Mann had no fucking idea how to film a goddamn movie in HD. If Mann had stuck to film, this wouldn't be a problem or if he had actually fucking learned how to do it. Some scenes were so blatantly filmed on a set and you can tell so easily, almost to a point where you can tell where exactly the lights are coming from and you can almost picture Mann sitting behind the camera saying 'Yeah, this is good enough'. He overly uses this shakey camera effect which should be fucking stopped in all movies anyway, but in some intense low light scenes, you basically can't fucking see anything because of how blurry the screen comes. This becomes a problem when you are trying to identify some of the guns being used and all you see is a faint blur. I'm surprised the entire movie was even filmed in HD because I swear to God I've seen the same quality from an SD handy cam that Will owns.
I already told Will to avoid this movie because of that fact, but it might only drive him to see it. I might be overreacting a bit on the cinematography, but when it detracts from the movie that is almost 3 hours long, you start wishing Mann had stuck to this time around.
What I tell the rest is to go see the movie, mainly for the action. Some points get dull, but when the guns start blazin, shit gets intense.
Basically the best thing about this movie for me personally was the accuracy to time period weapons. Winchester 94s, Thompson Submachine Guns, BARs, 1911s, Winchester 10 gauge shotguns, Remington Model 8s etc, all on screen in their blazing glory, cutting down good guys and bad guys alike in both the forest, city and off the sides of vehicles. The opening scene were Bale guns down Pretty Boy Floyd with a bolt action Mannlicher-Schoenauer style bolt and a set trigger (which was actually used) really set a precedent for the rest of the movie, and the gunplay was the best I've seen in for a movie of that time period.
Depp does well, plays the part well, Bale is Bale, and plays the same character in almost every movie, so pass. No problems there or with the rest of the cast. I could go on about the fact that they got a blue eyed french woman to play a native american, but I'll let it slide since I don't really care.
What I had wished they had done was build a little bit more of a backstory with some of the other gangsters like Baby Face Nelson. They never explain why he is such a fucking loony toon who loves to gun down cops or why Dillinger is the only one that can control him. Character Development simply doesn't happen in this film - at all.
And for the worst part, for me at least, was either the fact that the entire movie was filmed in HD OR the fact that Mann had no fucking idea how to film a goddamn movie in HD. If Mann had stuck to film, this wouldn't be a problem or if he had actually fucking learned how to do it. Some scenes were so blatantly filmed on a set and you can tell so easily, almost to a point where you can tell where exactly the lights are coming from and you can almost picture Mann sitting behind the camera saying 'Yeah, this is good enough'. He overly uses this shakey camera effect which should be fucking stopped in all movies anyway, but in some intense low light scenes, you basically can't fucking see anything because of how blurry the screen comes. This becomes a problem when you are trying to identify some of the guns being used and all you see is a faint blur. I'm surprised the entire movie was even filmed in HD because I swear to God I've seen the same quality from an SD handy cam that Will owns.
I already told Will to avoid this movie because of that fact, but it might only drive him to see it. I might be overreacting a bit on the cinematography, but when it detracts from the movie that is almost 3 hours long, you start wishing Mann had stuck to this time around.
What I tell the rest is to go see the movie, mainly for the action. Some points get dull, but when the guns start blazin, shit gets intense.
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