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Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated The Public Enemy (1931) in Movies

Jul 30, 2020

The Public Enemy (1931)

1931 | Action, Classics, Drama

5.5

(2 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Boring

The story of the rise and fall of prohibition-era Tom Powers. The Public Enemy currently sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. I was excited to dive in to this movie, but I started drowning as soon as I hit the first ten minutes. And, no, it didn’t get better.

Acting: 7

Beginning: 4
The beginning is extremely slow. It was very hard for me to get engaged or even stay that way. I got out of the first ten minutes thinking, “If this is any indication of how the rest of the movie is going to be, count me out.”

Characters: 2

Cinematography/Visuals: 10

Conflict: 5
For a gangster movie, I was really hoping for a lot more action. The gun fights aren’t bad, but they happen so few and far between it makes the rest of the movie really boring. I never felt any stakes at any point with any of the characters either so the conflict is mediocre by comparison.

Entertainment Value: 5
I enjoyed watching a part of cinematic history. I respected that aspect at least. Overall, though, I was mildly entertained at best. I felt there were more lulls than high spots.

Memorability: 6

Pace: 4
I was bored out of my mind for most of the movie. Again, I expected more from a gangster movie. Too much talking, way too much exposition. The movie drags like a sloth.

Plot: 8
The story is solid. The execution was weak. There are a number of different ways this story could have been approached without there being so much repeated dialogue. Tom Powers has an interesting story that happened to get lost in translation with all of this.

Resolution: 2
I won’t spoil the ending, but it did nothing for the main character or his story overall. I felt we reached a climax where I had no sympathy for Tom because they had done little to nothing to that point to make me give a shit about him. Considering how bad the beginning was already, this was absolutely horrible.

Overall: 53Do I think The Public Enemy is a bad movie? Clearly, but I will say it’s not without a handful of shining moments. The camerawork is phenomenal particularly during gun fights. However, because I could never get to a point where I rooted for the main character, it made the movie as a whole hard to enjoy for me.