Public Enemies

Rating: 10/10 (5 July 2009)

Public Enemies is based on actual events in the 1930's during the Great Depression dealing with notorious bank robber John Dillinger and his gang of men. The film shows John robbing many different banks and hiding out from the police and Federal Bureau of Investigation, who have named him "public enemy" number one. The film also focuses on the man who is determined to bring John down and to have him captured once and for all. A side plot involving a romance between Dillinger and a woman named Billie, is also featured. Films like Public Enemies can go either way for me. Sometimes they are high on substance and little on a good story and more on action and style, which I do not really care for, or there are also those which are very well structured and put together and leave the viewer entertained, thrilled and marvelling at the achievement. Public Enemies for me, fell into the second category. Yes, it does have a lot of style and was made with what looks like a big budget and popular Hollywood actors like Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, but the film does have a very involving story and even though it is quite stylish and was made for quite a bit, it never goes overboard with being unrealistic, or trying to show off with a lot of special effects, or technical tricks. There is one action scene that does go on for several minutes, but I found it to be very well paced as well as quite suspenseful and thrilling, so the fact that it was a longer scene did not bother me at all. I also found that the script had enough to keep us as the viewers interested and intrigued for the entire length of the film. I also liked some of the twists and turns that the film took and revealing some of the true intentions and real motives, of these characters. The only thing I would have changed with the film was to have more of Marion Cotillard's character Billie, because I found her to be quite interesting and it was a great performance, and yet I did not feel we got to know her as well as we could of and I would have liked to have known more about her and because the performance was so good, every time she was on screen it was a real pleasure to watch. Some scenes especially near the end with her in it are quite powerful and show the range of her great acting. Johnny Depp and Christian Bale are great also, but again we do not see as much of Christian Bale's police character as we do Depp as Dillinger. Mainly the film is about Dillinger, and having being advertised that way, it was no real surprise to me that the film mainly focused on him, but I would have liked a little more of the supporting characters as well because when they were on screen, I found them to be interesting and added more to the story than if it had just been about Dillinger robbing banks the whole time. The script really does develop the characters well and as I mentioned there are some powerful moments as well as thrilling moments to capture anyone's attention. The film looks good with it's cinematography (which is digital and has brought forward some complaints) to the great looking replica costumes of the era. Public Enemies has style and a great deal of substance to really fulfill any real movie lover's expectations and I felt mine were met and I really enjoyed what I saw. One of the best films of the year.