rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2009
Directed by Michael Mann; produced by Michael Mann, Kevin Misher; screenplay by Michael Mann, Ronan Bennett, Ann Biderman
Starring Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, Christian Bale, Billy Crudup, Carey Mulligan, Stephen Dorff, Giovanni Ribisi, Stephen Graham, Channing Tatum, Bill Camp, Emilie de Ravin, Leelee Sobieski
'Public Enemies' is a refreshing film about gangsters in the 1930s. Based on the life of John Dillinger, director Michael Mann presents a strange mix of perfectly researched sequences and fictional events around famous people, including Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson. Mann shows different chapters in the life of Dillinger, including his many bank robberies with his gang, the love for Billie, and his downfall after just over a year out of prison.
Public Enemy no. 1 Dillinger is played as another of Johnny Depp’s memorable performances. The film itself does not explain much about the why of Dillinger’s life, but Depp fills in some of the blanks, which is quite amazing in this quite silence performance. Dillinger robs banks in the Public Enemy Era, and the film shows other of those enemies – including the already mentioned Nelson (Stephen Graham) and Floyd (Channing Tatum), as well as Frank Nitti (Bill Camp), Homer Van Meter (Stephen Dorff), Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribisi) – when they interact with Dillinger. It seems they are just there, in that time, in that place.
His love, Billie F (Marion Cotillard), and the man who hunts him down, Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), representing J. Edgar Hoover’s (Billy Crudup) perfect Bureau of Investigation, are the other two main characters there, in that time and place. Both are explained the way Dillinger is explained; without much detail. It is one of the refreshing things of the film. Psychology may be interesting in some films, but distracting in most. Mann just wants to tell a story.
Mann uses most of the real locations also for his film, and brings many of his sequences without any glamour. Look at the action scenes. Most Hollywood-directors would exploit this to make it look cool but Mann is just interested in what happened, and he presents it the way he thinks it did. Some audiences may feel they are looking at something toned-down, which could be true when compared to most other Hollywood-gangster films, especially playing in the 1930s. But this film, about this bank robber, in this time, feels as something accurate, even though Mann has taken some liberty when it comes to certain events.