An old-fashioned and compelling motion picture.

Rating: 8/10 (30 November 2009)

Better late than never, I guess. Although Public Enemies was released somehow late in Peruvian theatres, I admit I have taken my time to write my review, having seen the actual movie a couple of weeks before Inglourious Basterds. This has happened not because I didn't know what to write about the movie - although I have found myself in that particular kind of situation before -, but because I'm having less and less time to write reviews. This is what college does to someone who enjoys doing something that is not particularly vital for his career or every-day life, and although I'm studying something I love -filmmaking - I don't like the fact that I'm starting to write less and less reviews each week.
But enough of my personal life. This particular text should concern Johnny Depp's latest movie, and thus express that, yes, I did enjoy the movie, although it didn't fulfill all of my - perhaps unreasonably high - expectations. Those expecting a very exciting, action-packed and thrilling motion picture will definitely be disappointed; although the film has its share of shoot-outs and deaths, it is more of a drama rather than a thriller or action picture, and thus succeeds at telling the story of the very interesting John Dillinger (Depp) without resorting to pointless action sequences or explosions. In fact, it is somehow old-fashioned in this respect, having more in common with movies like The Maltese Falcon than with the average star-studded summer movie of the 21st century.
The film tells the story of John Dillinger, and actually starts with him escaping a maximum-security prison with most of his gang alive. He already has quite a reputation as one of the most successful and daring bank-robbers of his time (the 1930s) but isn't planning on stopping to do what he does best, at least not on the short run. He becomes involved with a very pretty coat-check girl named Billie Frechette (the superb Mario Cotillard) and also becomes the obsession of FBI big boss Edgard J. Hoover (Billy Crudup), who assigns agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) as the head of the office whose mission is to apprehend Dillinger. Needless to say, most of the film is dedicated to Dillinger's seemingly-superficial relationship with Billie, but most importantly, to Purvis' hunt of the famous robber.
Although director Michael Mann has proved in the past that he can be a master of tension and intensity, even when working with a not-so-great screenplay (as in the case of Miami Vice), he has decided not to turn Public Enemies into an action-fest, and I applaud him for that. He understands that, being the story of a real life figure, it is more interesting to present the film in a more dramatic, old-fashioned kind of way. Fortunately enough, he succeeds at emphasizing the drama having a particularly slow movie, although it definitely isn't as fast-paced as other movies of its ilk. Interestingly enough, it is the performances, the plot itself and the character interactions that managed to interest me the most in what was happening on-screen, not the few action sequences. Don't get me wrong - they are expertly shot - and there are a couple of very tense moments here and there - it's only that Mann hasn't made any of these sequences the real focus of the film.
Performances are superlative. Johnny Depp once again proves that he's one of the most chamaleonic actors alive. Although Dillinger is not presented in a truly three-dimensional fashion, Depp manages to make him a suitably sympathetic figure, a very charming and "cool" kind of character, without turning him into a caricature of a gangster. Marion Cotillard is, as usual, great, even if her character is nothing more than an archetypical love interest. Christian Bale is a little bland as Purvis - and his accent never managed to convince me - but that's more due to the screenplay than to his acting. As Edgar J. Hoover, on the other hand, Billy Crudup is great, and Stephen Graham (Snatch.) manages to create a truly memorable and vile character in the form of Baby Face Nelson.
If there's one thing that truly bothered me about the movie, though, and that, for my money, prevents it from being a quasy-masterpiece, it would be Mann's visual style. Not unlike his previous efforts, Collateral and the aforementioned Miami Vice, Mann has used digital videocameras to shoot the film - without ever trying to hide the fact that he is, in fact, using videocameras - and it doesn't really work at all times. He's shot most of the movie using hand-held cameras, and although this works during the shoot-outs or the more intense sequences, because of the "different" nature of the digital cameras, all the blurriness and confusion that Mann's shakiness cause can become distracting and bothersome, especially during scenes that take place at night. I don't mind Mann using digital cameras, but if he's going the digital way, at least he should try to use a less shaky kind of camera-work.
Visual style aside, Public Enemies is a very gripping and old-fashioned movie that should find its audience not in hormonal teenage boys and girls, but in a more mature moviegoers. It may not be as masterful as previous works of a similar nature, but due to its solid performances and emphasis of drama over action and explosions, it works as a very compelling character study of a gangster who, during his time, was lauded by the public and hated by the authorities. This aspect of public popularity is not particularly developed by the filmmakers - save a couple of scenes in which it is very evident - but Depp's performance, I think, is good enough to make the audience believe that, despite all his wrong-doings, the public would love a man like him.