No where near as hot as HEAT!

Rating: 5/10 (7 July 2009)

PUBLIC ENEMIES Director: Michael Mann Country: USA Year: 2009 Language: English Runtime: 140 Minutes Rating: 15A
Johnny Depp and Christian Bale are at the very top of the acting game. Depp has just emerged from one of the biggest blockbuster series of all time, bagging an Oscar nomination along the way for his role as Captain Jack, in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, while Bale is churning out massive movies every other week. Already we've had BATMAN and TERMINATOR and now we have PUBLIC ENEMIES, the latest from Miami VICE creator and all round champion of cops and robbers, Michael Mann, who brought Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino together in HEAT, where they appeared on screen together for the first time.
PUBLIC ENEMIES follows John Dillinger, who is played by Depp, and who rocketed to fame over a period of just 14 months, beginning in May 1933. He and his gang blasted across the Midwestern United States stealing an estimated 300,000 during a time when soup kitchen lines stretched around the block. Through a combination of charisma and audacity Dillinger became an enduring American folk hero.
Yet the movie never really explains Dillinger's mythical status. We only get glimpses. Early on in the film, in the middle of a heist Dillinger sees some money on a counter and asks "That your money, Mister?" to a customer who nervously answers "Yes," Dillinger then tells the man, "We're here for the banks money not yours. Put it away!" At another point he takes a female customer prisoner but gives her his coat.
We get glimpses of the character and the reasons behind the legend but it's hard to believe that Dillinger was mythologised into a modern day Robin Hood on the evidence of this pic. Sure he gave young ladies his coats, and yes he was handsome but surely a hero needs a little bit extra? Something that sets him apart from the other thugs and low-lifes?
Christian Bale is equally unimpressive as FBI agent Melvin Purvis, the film doesn't even hint at the demons that drive men to hunt down other men. Where as HEAT was an insightful look into the lives of cops and robbers and the women that share their lives, PUBLIC ENEMIES is a look at the guns, clothes and cars of the 1930's. If you're looking for a great character driven movie rent HEAT on DVD, if you want to see a pretty film, full of pretty people making a pretty big noise with machine guns then PUBLIC ENEMIES is for you. But I'm afraid it's a little too pretty for me.