Disappointing Bipic, but don't blame Johnny Depp

Rating: 5/10 (25 June 2009)

Michael Mann's much anticipated biopic about notorious bank robber John Dillinger (played expertly by Johnny Depp) comes up short. The story of John Dillinger and how he became a notorious bank robber who liked living the good life while eluding the newly formed FBI all the while laughing at them as they kept coming up short in trying to catch him. And when they did catch him, no prison could hold him. This sounds like it would make a pretty interesting story, unfortunately, Michael Mann didn't see it that way. Public Enemies is in a wordslow. The pacing is deliberate and more importantly for a character driven drama, I didn't find much clarity in what made John Dillinger, John Dillinger. The film doesn't have any back story to Dillinger, as it takes place in 1933 after a daring prison break. We are shown that Dillinger is a man of few words, has a cool confidence, thinks big and when he wants something, he will aggressively pursue it, whether it be knocking off banks or going after women. But, one woman in particular catches his fancy, Billie Frechette, (Marion Cotillard) a hat check girl he becomes smitten with at a club. On the flip side, are the "good guys" of the FBI. J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) is tired of all these glorified gangsters, forms a task force to get them, led by Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale). Dillinger is listed as Public Enemy #1 and Hoover tells Purvis to do whatever it takes to bring in the popular bank robber.
The film has a strong cast but many of them prove to be uninteresting, there are of course exceptions Johnny Depp does a very fine job as Dillinger. He played the character with strong convictions, bravura and was a likable crook. Mr. Depp seemed to know what made Dillinger tick, but aside from a few brief clues, it was not clear to me. Unfortunately, without that clarity, his character wasn't permitted to have an arc, so I was left feeling ambivalent about him and what he stood for. His acting was unforced, honest and truthful. He is fun to watch. Marion Cotillard (who was fantastic as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose) does an admirable job as Dillinger's moll and she had a good connection with him and their relationship looked genuine. Billy Crudup does a very nice job as Hoover. He certainly had his mannerisms and speech patterns down. It is a shame we didn't see more of him. Which leads me to Christian Bale. He seemed at a loss as to how best to bring his character to life. Judging by a fact we discover at the end, it would seem that Purvis was a conflicted man but Mr. Bale seemed to just play him with one note throughoutstoic. Not really sure how he felt about Dillinger, except for a few glimmers of dialogue. His brief scene with Depp was bereft of tension. Depp clearly had more going on. Mr. Bale seemed tired to me and who could blame him, filming this amidst The Dark Knight and Terminator: Salvation. He did seem to realize this was Johnny Depp's film and to his credit he doesn't try to outshine him. Lili Taylor makes a brief appearance and it was not a memorable one, for such a fine actress.
Michael Mann puts forth an earnest effort but alas this is not one of his best work; either with screenplay or direction. The film lacks suspense, drama and more often than not feels like it is going through the motions. He does a lot of research that brings a rarely seen realism to that era, especially when we see early wiretapping. The film really falls apart in the last 1/3 and the climax fizzles. Despite several good scenes scattered throughout, the film falls flat.