Nothing too special for Michael Mann...

Rating: 8/10 (3 July 2009)

... but still a good time at the movies.
Being generally very similar to Heat, it follows a similar story arc and theme, so if you know Michael Mann you won't be in for many surprises.
Depp was really good as Dillinger, and Christian Bale shook of the clinging stench of Terminator Salvation and redeemed himself for this summer with his work as Melvin Purvis. Marion Cotilliard was pretty good too, although she was an afterthought for much of the movie and only really figured into things towards the very end.
I really liked the soundtrack because it evoked the proper time and place and attitude, but i felt that the score was sometimes a bit over the top - especially at the end with a totally predictable "cue the waterworks" moment with Marion.
The only major criticism I have about the film in terms of the way that it plays out is in the fact that it is very difficult to identify/distinguish many of the members of Depp's crew. Some of them have maybe one or two lines in the whole movie, and the rest just exist in the background until they are called upon by the script to show up at a certain spot and make a brief appearance. If these were just minor roles then it wouldn't be a very big problem. The problem is that the film asks the viewer to keep track of all these characters that the main players are talking about without really having any idea who they are referring to.
The film appears to have been shot digitally, mostly with hand-held cameras. When it is most obvious, the motion on screen really pops, and it looks much faster than normal but can sometimes look kind of like a TV show. Sometimes the lighting really doesn't make any sense at all (like when Johnny and Marion and sitting on a beach at 4:00 am and there is a blinding white light coming from.. somewhere .. that just seems out of place). When this odd lighting and the very fast frame rate combine it can sometimes look a bit slapdash. This phenomenon also makes it look like the actors are on a stage at a theater, and this may be the intended effect. Sometimes it looks awesome though - there is a chase/battle in the woods at night that is very well done and the lighting and cinematography capture it very well.
Overall it was a good movie. It was sort of like Heat, just redone as a period piece. It doesn't reach the same level of scale and significance as that great film, but I don't think Public Enemies was reaching for that level.