Another Epic crime yarn from Mann.

Rating: 9/10 (23 March 2015)

Michael Mann has done it again. This man is a genius when it comes to the epic crime saga. It started back in 1995 when he released the masterpiece 'Heat' which blew the world away with it's amazing acting and fantastic memorable shootouts. Then in 2004 he stuck with crime in L.A. and came out with 'Collateral' which again featured great acting and some memorable action sequences. He was back at it again in 2006 with the film version of the 80's TV show 'Miami Vice', which admittedly wasn't as good as the previous two, but still had some engaging action scenes. 2009 came along and Mann decided that for his next project he would tackle the story of infamous bank robber John Dillinger and once again doesn't disappoint.
The story opens in 1933 with John Dillinger (played by Johnny Depp) and his crew breaking out of prison in Indiana. So right off the bat Michael Mann is showing off his skills as a director by staging this prison break and including a mini shootout between the gang and the prison guards. This film is a true team effort though. Not only is the director at the top of his game, but the actors are all uniformly excellent. Johnny Depp completely absorbs the role of Dillinger and literally becomes him. Depp has always been one of the greatest character actors and once again can do no wrong. Christian Bale plays the role of FBI agent Melvin Purvis and is also quite good. Bale has become the go-to- man for movies over the past few years. Batman, Terminator, 3:10 to Yuma, and many more on his resume. Leading or Supporting, it doesn't matter, Bale can handle any role and in this film he becomes Depp's equal as the two go back and forth throughout. Dillinger toys with Purvis by narrowly escaping him a few times before being caught which sets up a fictitious showdown between the two at a prison. Though the scene isn't nearly as good, it does have a lot of similarity to the now infamous coffee shop scene from 'Heat'. Just to see Dillinger and Purvis go back and forth even for just two minutes was really something to behold.
The supporting actors in this film play small yet important roles. Stephen Dorff, Giovanni Ribisi, Marion Cotillard, Stephen Lang, & Billy Crudup. Dorff and Ribisi play members of Dillinger's gang, Crudup is very good as FBI head honcho J. Edgar Hoover, & Cotillard is pretty good also as Dillinger's love Billie Frechette. Actors of such caliber as Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard really bring out the emotion in their characters and make us as the audience feel for them and even though this is a true story and we know how it ends, we still kinda wish they end up together. Stephen Lang's character ends up being the one that fires the fatal shot that finishes off Dillinger as he was walking out of a movie at the Biograph Theater in Chicago.
In the end it all comes back to Michael Mann, who almost perfectly crafts the story of John Dillinger in a way that blended fact and fiction quite seamlessly. While it did have a few historical inaccuracies; that doesn't take anything away from the achievement of Mann and the actors. They all do the story justice and really transport us into the world of the Chicago area during the depression era of the 1930's. 'Public Enemies' doesn't quite reach the heights of Mann's masterpieces 'Heat' and 'The Insider', but that doesn't stop him from staging huge shootouts that try to rival the ones seen in 'Heat'. And this does continue to show that Michael Mann is a cinematic genius when it comes to the epic crime saga and I can't wait to see which crime world he decides to tackle next.