Seen it with the lady at the Chicago premiere this past week. Michael Mann also introduced the film, which was cool.

And on to my quick review summary...

IMO, one of the best films I seen this year...with close competition only coming from "Moon" or "Up"

Positives....

-This ain't "Goodfellas" or "The Godfather", but is a very entertaining film that is a notch or two below those classics...along the lines of maybe "Carlito's Way, "Casino", or "King of New York". You may purchase it, catch it on TV, and watch it again every once in awhile, but it won't win all kinds of awards and it won't make any AFI lists...but maybe I'm wrong.

-This is Michael Mann's best film since "Collateral"...maybe his best since "Heat".

-A few classic scenes that will hold up with time...no spoilers. I especially liked the scene in a movie theater involving a movie theater ad that plays.

-The best acting comes from Billy Crudup as "J Edgar Hoover" (deserves a supporting actor nomination) and Stephen Graham as "Baby Face Nelson" (as the sinister and entertainingly kick-ass gangster). Also, I surprisingly liked the work of Marion Gotillard as Dillinger's love interest...she held her own with Depp and the others.

-A lot of great character actors, Chicago actors, and other surprising faces pop up in this film...won't spoil it.

-Great use of the Chicago, Chicago Suburbs, and NW Indiana locations...great set designs. They got the sound and look of the time period down perfectly.

-Great Cinematography and probably Mann's best use of the HD camera since he been using it lately with "Collateral" and "Miami Vice".

-Running at 2 and a half hours, it does not feel like it at all...it moves along rather quickly and does not plod along too much with the romance aspects and such.

-Excellent action set pieces...Mann knows how to do gun battles...you could feel and hear every tommy gun rat-tat-tat and every bullet piercing objects...very loud and was shaking the theater...awesome sound work!!!


Neutral aspects...

-Johnny Depp is charming and suave, but a little too reserved and too cool at times as "John Dillinger"...he just does not come across as intimidating as a ganger. Overall, it is good acting work, but it is not a memorable acting job or gangster character...ala "Tony Montana", "Michael Corleone", or Joe Pesci's "Tommy DeVito"

-Christian Bale has an underdeveloped character to handle in this film as the head of the Chicago FBI division, but does his best with the role. There is no "Batman" growling, but his accent distorts some lines at times, but nothing too distracting. Another decent acting job, but I was expecting better.


Negatives...

-Much could be added to some story lines and other parts could have been left in the editing room...once again, I don't want to spoil too much...but I wanted more added to the story arch about "Frank Nitty" and his crime organization...that might have been a better overall movie than this one.

-One element that really pissed me off...really pissed me off and caused me to shake my head in disgust...one stupid decision to use CGI during one key scene. Trust me, you will know what I speak of once you see it and I expect you all to shake your heads as well. There was no need for it and it could have been pulled off way better without CG and it would not have been costly at all.

Overall...8/10