Public Enemies review
Beware of spoilers for Public Enemies
Who doesn't enjoy a Johnny Depp movie; Women swoon over him, men envy him, and movie fans are excited to see what flick he has next. As it is with this film, Public Enemies, I've been very much excited to see Michael Mann take Depp and Christian Bale, put them head to head as he did with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Heat. Both Depp and Bale are undeniably two of today's top actors in the business. The hope for Public Enemies is to see these two actors take two historical men, play cops and robbers in a film about old style gangsters that we literally can only see in the movies.
John Dillinger, some called him the "modern-day Robin Hood", truly a perfect candidate for a big screen action film because yes, back in the 1930's story book gangsters did exist and for someone, like myself, who enjoys general history, American history, etc., gets excited at the prospect of seeing a film based on these people with some of my favorite actors playing them. I always loved watching films or reading stories about criminals that are idolized. Sure, criminals shouldn't be idolized and there are those, especially today, that deserve nothing better than life in prison or the death penalty, however, back in the early 1900's or back in the 1800's, American criminals were more than just criminals - they truly were legends; Jesse James comes to mind. Although I'm not condoning the actions of criminals and crimes, looking back to that era is very interesting and the exploits of those days always make for very entertaining films. Could Michael Mann take the exploits of John Dillinger and provide a good movie even though the subject has been done before in films?
"Based on author Bryan Burrough's ambitious tome Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-43, director Michael Mann's sprawling historical crime drama follows the efforts of top FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale ) in capturing notorious bank robber John Dillinger. A folk hero to the American public thanks to his penchant for robbing the banks that many people believed responsible for the Great Depression, charming bandit Dillinger (Johnny Depp) was virtually unstoppable at the height of his criminal career; no jail could hold him, and his exploits endeared him to the common people while making headlines across the country. J. Edgar Hoover's (Billy Crudup) FBI was just coming into formation, and what better way for the ambitious lawman to transform his fledgling Bureau of Investigation into a national police force than to capture the gang that always gets away? Determined to bust Dillinger and his crew, which also included sociopathic Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham) and Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribisi), Hoover christened Dillinger the country's very first Public Enemy Number One, and unleashed Purvis to take them down by whatever means necessary. But Purvis underestimated Dillinger's ingenuity as a master criminal, and after embarking on a frantic series of chases and shoot-outs, the dashing agent humbly surmised that he was in over his head. Outwitted and outgunned, Purvis knew that his only hope for busting Dillinger's gang was to baptize a crew of Western ex-lawmen as official agents, and orchestrate a series of betrayals so cunning that even America's criminal mastermind wouldn't know what hit him. Marion Cotillard, Channing Tatum, and Stephen Dorff co-star." [Fandango]
If you get nothing else from this movie, whether or not you like Public Enemies, you will indeed take away Johnny Depp's fantastic performance as John Dillinger. Dillinger, a revered criminal during the 1930's, is portrayed by Depp in a performance that I consider one of his best - not thee best, but one of his better performances. Bale on the other hand, although a good performance on his part, really didn't have anything to work with. The person Bale portrays, Melvin Purvis, wasn't a compelling character. Purvis had no emotion, no development, and didn't feel like a character at all. Purvis was just there, ... cold and nothing else. If they tried to convey a feeling that Purvis was just all about his work, focused, I didn't see it and if that was the case, it wasn't conveyed well at all. Another actor, who's role was smaller than I hoped for, was Stephen Lang who performed the part of Charles Winstead, a Texas Ranger. Granted his role wasn't that large, every moment he was on screen with dialog is, in short, the best parts of the film - the reason being, I love Lang. I've seen several of Lang's films including Gettysburg, God and Generals, and Tombstone - whether those films are liked or not, Lang is incredible in each film. He does it again with his bad ass performance as a Texas law man in Public Enemies. His character or the person he portrays, is also the man who eventually killed Dillinger.
Public Enemies isn't an action packed film but whenever there is action, bank robberies, shoot outs, and so on, you really feel like your in the middle of it. The sound from the Thompson machine gun is so amazing, it blew me out of my seat. The opening scene, the first bank robbery, and the forest cabin gun fight are without a doubt fantastic and exciting scenes to watch - you won't be disappointed.
What is disappointing is the lack of exploration of characters and the era. If you saw the film, maybe you didn't know, but the movie takes place during the Great Depression. Public Enemies doesn't show that at all. One of the reasons why John Dillinger was revered was because he robbed banks during the worst economic era in American history - he sort of showed people that the depression wouldn't stop him from making tons of cash and people loved him for it. None of that was shown in this film and it turns out to be a huge missed opportunity. Another missed opportunity is seeing two mega stars like Depp and Bale in a scene together. In Mann's other hit film, Heat, all of us have seen and loved the Pacino - De Niro scene sitting across from each other talking. That scene is one of the greatest scenes in film history. Public Enemies has a scene meant to be like that with Depp and Bale in a jail talking - it's good, yes, but ultimately leaves me wanting so much more.
Michael Mann does something that I love in his films - he's able to make "bad ass" more macho than most directors. There's several scenes in this film that I LOVE! Three in particular come to mind - The jail break scene with the fake gun, walking into the police station where nobody notices him, and the finale scene while watching the Clark Gabel movie. Depp is able to bring such a fantastic swagger to his character - the look on Depp's face is amazing and, yes, bad ass.
Public Enemies is full of problems mainly relating to lack of exploration and the way it was shot, which I didn't mention (I feel it's a redundant criticism in films). Even still, with the problems I saw, Public Enemies is still a pretty damn entertaining movie although not a typical action packed summer blockbuster. Johnny Depp's performance as John Dillinger isn't the only reason to see this film as it has great action, great performances, and an overall macho quality of 1930's criminals. I can't say everyone would enjoy this film and if your honestly not sure about seeing it and would rather wait, it's definitely worth seeing on DVD at some point, however, it would be a shame to wait for that. Public Enemies at the end of the day gets a 7.5 out of 10 and I look forward to seeing it again.
John Dillinger
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 John Dillinger gangster 1934 Indiana License plate  US $19.95
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 JOHN DILLINGER POSTER - GANGSTER - 22.5x34 MINT #1055 US $5.95
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 DILLINGER Insert Poster~Warren Oates/John Milius 1973 US $49.99
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 JOHN DILLINGER Rare Enemy Coin Card 1934 Buffalo Nickel US $9.99
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 John Dillinger - Rare METAL Crown Point Jail Photo US $5.99
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 John Dillinger - Rare METAL Crown Point Jail Photo US $5.99
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 John Dillinger - Rare METAL Photo - Public Enemy #1 US $5.99
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 John Dillinger - METAL photo Bank robber - Public Enemy US $.99
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 VINTAGE NEWSPAPER HEADLINE~GANGSTER JOHN DILLINGER DEAD US $19.95
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 VINTAGE NEWSPAPER HEADLINE~GANGSTER JOHN DILLINGER SHOT US $14.95
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 Rare Still John Dillinger Shot Dead On Slab US $9.99
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 gangster posters~THE SECOND JOHN DILLINGER GANG~ US $2.25
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 Amzng Johnny Depp John Dillinger Public Enemie Montage US $18.99
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 1934 Illinois License Plate Chicago John Dillinger US $17.50
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 gangster posters~JOHN DILLINGER~DEATH OF A PUBLIC ENEMY US $2.50
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 gangster posters(JOHN H. DILLINGER-PUBLIC ENEMY #1!!!!) US $2.50
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 gangster posters~JOHN HERBERT DILLINGER~ONE BAD DUDE!!! US $2.50
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 JOHN DILLINGER WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE POSTER GROLIER CARD US $1.99
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 John Dillinger - Rare METAL Photo - Public Enemy #1 US $5.99
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 JOHN DILLINGER POSTER - GANGSTER - 22.5x34 MINT #1055 US $5.95
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Cool review. I had heard the action scenes alone make the show worth watching.
In this movie Depp’s acting is once again flawless: he always manages to make me believe he IS the character.
Good review, well written and fair. Doesn’t hurt that i agree with you:). I liked the movie, even though i had been a bit set up not to. Thanks for putting some of my thoughts into words.
Makes me wonder what ended up on the cutting room floor.
I’d like to post this to my FB, i hope that’s cool!
pece
By all means Shondra - in fact, I encourage it! Thanks your your thoughts.
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