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‘Public Enemies’ fires a near-bulls-eye
With Public Enemies, director Michael Mann has delivered the best live-action movie of the summer.
So why do I have this funny feeling that I’m going to be among the few who really loves this film with Johnny Depp playing legendary gangster John Dillinger?
Maybe it’s the somewhat muted reaction I’ve read in other reviews so far. The consensus seems to be, “Well, it’s good, but it’s just not the classic it should have been.”
I will agree that Public Enemies does not deserve the label “classic,” but I think some have burdened the movie with overly high expectations. That’s not hard to do, given the talent involved. Anything less than a home run will seem like a disappointment to some - but any disappointment I felt with this movie was relatively minor. Mann is a master of the crime drama, and his portrait of the last days of Dillinger pulses with energy.
For some people, the movie may seem too cerebral, too studied, even though there are more than a few action scenes. Nobody shoots a gun battle like Mann does, but for me, the best parts of the film happened between the shoot-outs.
Mann, who also made Heat and Collateral, is legendary among filmmakers for his attention to even the minutest detail. He approaches his movies like a scientist, a historian, a psychologist and a sniper all rolled up into one. He particularly excels at getting inside the minds of his characters to show why they do what they do. With Dillinger, however, the key may be more why he doesn’t do things.
As played by Johnny Depp in an outstanding performance, Dillinger is someone who very much lives in the now. He doesn’t know how to do much of anything other than rob banks, but he has an effortless charisma that charms his enemies and his friends, especially a girl named Billie Frechette (an excellent Marion Cotillard, who won an Oscar for La Vie en Rose).
(For local history buffs, Dillinger’s Dayton arrest is referenced via a mug shot, but that event is not depicted in the film).
What Dillinger cannot do, however, is see much into the future. He is so caught up in the moment that he fails to grasp how law enforcement is gathering strength against him. Under the oppressive thumb of J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup), a new agency called the FBI is not above using questionable tactics to capture public enemy number one - something that very much haunts the lead investigator, Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale).
It’s the portrayal of that lead investigator this is the film’s one significant misstep, for two reasons. I don’t think Mann and his co-writers get into Purvis’ head nearly as well as they do Dillinger’s. I wanted to know more about him, and that part of the film left me wanting.
The other problem, I’m sorry to say, is Bale himself. His performance is too insular, too one-note. As he did in Terminator Salvation, Bale gets too caught up in playing the brooding hero, so Purvis seems shallow and opaque.
What overcomes that flaw is the terrific sense of time and place Public Enemies creates. One of Mann’s more controversial decisions was to shoot the movie with digital cameras, which he has used ever since Collateral. Such a choice may seem anachronistic for a movie set in the 1930s, but it gives the imagery a washed out look and a feel of immediacy that energizes the story about a man who slowly but surely is losing his moment in history.
And that, finally, is what makes Public Enemies so memorable, particularly in its final act, when Mann tightens the noose around Dillinger, ratcheting up the tension. The movie excitingly captures a moment in time when crime really did pay - and how the criminals let that slip through their fingers.
GRADE: A-
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment | Categories: Reviews
Comments
By No, L
July 6, 2009 3:26 PM | Link to this
Sir Critic said Bale’s acting in Public Enemies is one-note. Since you haven’t seen it, how would you know otherwise? He was bad in very the bad Terminator:Salvation and if this is more of the same, it’ll be a disappointment. He still hasn’t topped American Psycho.By SRCputt
July 2, 2009 7:57 PM | Link to this
I have been following Bale since Empire of the Sun. But let’s face it: Terminator Salvation was the worst he’s ever been. I’m worried he might be spreading himself too thin. Or maybe he was a more interesting actor when he played villains as well as heroes.By Martha Hardcastle
July 2, 2009 5:24 PM | Link to this
Your review was good enough to convince me. Even though I rarely see movies on their first run, I suspect I’ll make a trip to the Melody 49. Sounds like a great summer drive-in movie!By L
July 1, 2009 11:42 AM | Link to this
I can’t wait to see this film. With Depp and Bale in the lead roles, it can’t miss. How dare you say that Bale’s acting is one-note. You don’t know what you are talking about.By ME
July 1, 2009 10:46 AM | Link to this
I’m totally looking forward to this movie. I’m so glad Depp is Dillinger. This makes it a slam dunk for me! By the way the first robbery was in New Carlisle, Ohio. The bank was at the corner of SR 571 and SR 235. Now its a candle shop. There are many legends that have followed the man in the New Carlisle area. A lady (of NC) who was a girl at the time told me she had pictures of Dillinger hanging in her room and her mother made her take them down. He was believed to have rented a room at Silver Lake as well. He was legendary - it’s hard to really understand people liking Dillinger so much. I can’t wait to see what Mann does with this story!By Kim
July 1, 2009 10:05 AM | Link to this
I am really looking forward to seeing this one! Your comments about Bale reinforce my dismay that he is in this film - I find his acting about as exciting as a piece of dry, burnt toast. “One-note” and “shallow” perfectly sum up how I feel about his performances. ZZZzzz… I’ll be out of town all weekend but hope to see this early next week!