Re-romanticize the de-romanticized

Rating: 7/10 (6 July 2009)

Michael Mann has been able to tell complicated tales in expert form before, with masterful attention to detail and performances. In "Public Enemies" he keeps the latter but fails to tell the right story, choosing to do a standard old fashioned Hollywood film (with great gunfights). The book that this was adapted from is about the FBI and how it came to be successful, despite its multiple blunders, during a time in which the United States was no better than a third world country. The tales of the villains (the public enemies of the title) at the time are told to in part de-romanticize the crime figures but also to de-romanticize (or de-Hollywood-ize) the FBI. Mann goes the opposite way. He creates not only a Hollywood-type lost soul criminal in John Dillinger, but also a ridiculously idealized Melvin Purvis, the Chicago special agent in charge. Mann wants to make him into an Elliot Ness of "The Untouchables", when per the details in Brian Burrough's book, Purvis was rarely involved in the raids, missed or blatantly ignored many leads, and screwed up many operations - particularly the raid on Little Bohemia, portrayed in the movie as extremely successful, when in fact the FBI only managed to harm innocent civilians and lost all the gang. Many ideas credited to Purvis in the film were ideas of other agents. This is not just dishonest but it takes the fun and intelligence out of the tale.
Mann is not ignorant of the details. What in turn is amazing of "Public Enemies" is the great length to recreate many scenes, which Mann and his crew deliver perfectly. Thus it is obvious that Mann chose to willfully ignore it to create his own romantic vision of Dillinger and the FBI.