Good Intentions, Unrealised

Rating: 5/10 (6 July 2009)

The first most notable failing of Public Enemies is in the fact that it isn't engaging as a period piece. We're brought with Depp from an Indiana Penitentiary, to a safe-house outside of Chicago, then to a night-club where we meet the hastily-introduced character of Billie Frechette (Cotillard). There are no connecting scenes, no pauses given for the audience to take in a world that doesn't exist solely in the head of the director. Here, Michael Mann's knocking on our door, pleading with us to believe that we're in 1930's Chicago, and skeptical movie-goers will generally not buy. Fortunately for Mann, half-way through the movie, an investment into the world will reveal itself to be a good one. It's just unfortunate that such a basic element is neglected from the get-go, implying that there was a lack of time or thought given to the film by its creators, who amateurishly gave an A-list movie a goofy and awkward C-list first impression.
Further holding the movie back is the fact that it was shot in HD Digital Video. While there have been period pieces - parts of Fincher's Benjamin Button, for example - to benefit from the advent of digital video, Mann certainly ignored them when searching for his inspiration. The biggest offense here lies not in the digital video itself (the clarity of which further removes some of the believability of the period), but rather with the hand-held camera-work, which leaves the camera shaking in parts that would benefit from the added drama of a still camera. It's as if Michael Mann liked the hand-held effect so much in filming action segments that he decided to just do the whole thing that way. I believe Mann's intention was - and I'm paraphrasing here - "to make it like you're in the room with the characters." On the contrary, I felt more like I was in a room with big-budget actors and a cramped film crew, removing me even further from the already-flawed sense of genuineness. Also at fault here is the indoors and night-scene lighting; if this movie were shot in black and white, every office scene would be completely white and every night scene would be completely black. There was some definite haphazardness in this regard.
The movie's saving grace is its final half, in which the film is simultaneously much broader in setting and much tighter in narrative. However, it is important to note that this is relative. Once you've finally gotten over the fidgety camera-work and stared at the screen long enough to believe it, you'll find that the acting and writing - though certainly not terrible - are thoroughly unremarkable. One gets the sense that there are, in fact, real characters hiding behind the facades on screen, but the film can never take an adequate break from bank robberies or ambushes to flesh out the tortured mind of Melvin Purvis (which the movie simply rubs in our faces at the end, explaining that he ended up killing himself twenty-five years later). Oddly enough, the film is longer than average, even without necessary character or setting development, leaving me questioning exactly how the movie was seen as a viable screen story before Depp or Cotillard were attached.
Public Enemies is a solid story, made worse by the disappointing use of A-list actors, a well-known director, and all the bad decisions that they made together. One of my key tools in judging a movie is asking myself, "Would it be better if it were remade by a different director and crew?" As far as Public Enemies is concerned, the answer is yes. Ultimately, the concept was lucky to be green-lighted by Hollywood, and it really deserved to be treated by a film-maker and cast who cared more about it than the crew who ended up at its helm. A shot and a miss.