Public Enemies Its Own Enemy

Rating: 2/10 (30 January 2010)

Bryan Burrough wrote what is one of the leading books on the war on crime when he wrote "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of The FBI, 1933-1934". His transitions between the different fronts on the war made for a story that moved fluidly from one point to the next. And it told such a colorful story that even non-history buffs would enjoy it. When he wrote the book from which this movie was adapted, there was a reason he titled it "Public Enemies", rather than Public Enemy. Burrough's book focuses on the entire crime wave of 1933-1934, thus its subtitle. The big-screen adaptation of such an outstanding book does only a disservice to Burrough's thorough, painstaking research and writing.
In writing his book, Bryan Burrough focused not only on John Dillinger, but on Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, and the entire set of outlaws hunted by Melvin Purvis and his band of agents would laid the groundwork for what would eventually become today's FBI. Director Michael Marin, and co-writers Ronan Bennett and Ann Biderman have taken Burrough's extensive research and tossed it out the window, in favor of a single storyline that fails to fully outline the war that led to the creation of the original FBI.
In its defense, making a movie that fully followed Burrough's historical non-fiction would probably take far too long in movie, time. But in taking as many liberties as this work did only hurts the story. What's more, as abruptly as it began, the story fails to establish any real back story on Dillinger. It doesn't tell the story of how Dillenger become the outlaw that Americans actually came to adore, almost like a rock star.
Hollywood has made a habit of adapting books to movies for as long as memory serves. In some instances, Hollywood has somehow managed to successfully make the transition. But sadly, with Public Enemies, this movie has proved that sometimes, movies simply should not be adapted into big screen features. It has proved that this is one story that is far more enjoyable on the written page, than it will ever be on the big screen.