Hunter and Hunted

Rating: 8/10 (5 July 2009)

The film's biggest hurdle is to distinguish itself from other genre pieces like "Bonnie and Clyde," "The Untouchables," even films like "O, Brother, where art thou?" where some of the same characters that inhabit those films also inhabit "Public Enemies." Unfortunately, it fails at that, but there is much to admire.
With a pedigree director, a distinguished (beyond belief) cast, and all the time it wants, various set pieces are riveting. Great care has been taken in developing a soundtrack that lets the audience discover what slugs of various weights of lead sound like when passing at high speed through various substances, like air, plaster, brick, stone, tree trunks, motor vehicles, etc. It's spellbinding and the sound crew should find awards at the end of the year.
But what's missing most is form in the screenplay. It's not that there are too many characters that we have to sort through, there are too many that we have no idea of who they are or why we're watching them. In the cast, it's Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis who makes the most impression as a man who traditionally is the hero, and has to bring an era of crime—apparently single-handedly—to an end. But his methods are the first herald of modern day criminology, and it's fascinating to see early wiretaps and case development. Billy Crudup gives us a hint at what a full portrait of J. Edgar Hoover might be like (we're overdue for a full bio film on Hoover). And the amazing Marion Cottilard is always a rare and welcome presence, but the role created for her is too trite; nevertheless, she carries just about all the weight in her scenes with Depp.
Johnny Depp has never been boring even if he misses the mark. But here he seems not to even be present. There's probably a reason we've never had a film about John Dillinger. While myth abounds, he was a brutal psychopath. The screenplay goes for the myth, and we're left feeling ambivalent about the people he hangs with, the choice of vocation he's made, and many people we see blown to smithereens in the course of the film all to bring him and his raiding to an end. He makes a distinction early in the film that he's not taking a customer's moneyjust the bank's. In today's perilous economic environment, it just doesn't play well.
The film is fully scored using some music from the period, but nothing sounds like the period. That's at odds with the detailed art direction which appears both shabby (to reflect the world of the Great Depression) and extravagant in the use of cars and art nouveau architecture from the period.
Any schoolboy (or possibly girl) knows the end of this story. So what the film needs to give us is some reason to care when that end comes. But I didn't. The shootout at Little Bohemia Lodge which is a prelude to "the end" is exciting, but we don't know who the people are running around. "Is it Dillinger?" Christian Bale asks. I shrugged, and muttered, "Don't ask me."