Public Enemies

Rating: 10/10 (3 July 2009)

Public Enemies tells us the story about America's first war on crime and the pursuit of John Dillinger by the fledgling FBI. The film picks up four years into the Great Depression, which was a time when many people were out of work and standing in soup kitchen lines. The film begins with what appears to be John Dillinger, played by Johnny Depp, being taken to prison, but we soon find out that it is really a part of his plan to bust out some fellow criminals. Meanwhile, Melvin Purvis, played by Christian Bale, successfully hunts down Pretty Boy Floyd, and due to this success is tapped by J. Edgar Hoover to lead a task force to capture Dillinger. This is the story that the film centers on as we see these two men play a game of cat and mouse.
Throughout the film Michael Mann utilizes a lot of hand held camera work, which puts us right into the scene with Dillinger and Purvis. Also the look of how some of the gun battles with lighting and camera work gives the film almost the same look as a war documentary. It is almost like you are there with Dillinger dodging bullets and racing to avoid the police. The lighting is very dark and moody for many of the scenes which gives these scenes a feel similar to old gangster movies from the 1930's and 40's. In fact near the end of the film there is a Clark Gable film playing in the movie theater that Dillinger has gone to for a night out. I think that many of these old gangster movies were on the mind of Michael Mann as he made this film.
Johnny Depp delivers a wonderful performance as the lovable outlaw and pulls you in with his charisma very quickly. He plays Dillinger just as I would assume him to have been in real life. Dillinger became somewhat of a folk hero in America since his exploits in the 30's stealing money from banks and not the banks customers. While these stories may or may not be true Dillinger is portrayed in the film like a kind of rock star to the common man. Christian Bale also delivers a great performance that is very different from what many people dubbed as an "arrogant" character in his other summer blockbuster. Bale comes across as a determined man that will stop at nothing, within the law, to catch Dillinger. Bale is very effective when he gets to play in roles where he has to be motivated and stern, not just told "look as serious as you can about everything." Public Enemies is my favorite movie so far this summer and it is captivating. The scenes are shot beautifully. The lighting fits the mood quite well, and on top of that the sound track is great. When Dillinger robs a bank we get this great Blues track and fits the swagger of the men walking into the bank. If you've sat through some of the bad movies this summer, like Transformers 2, then Public Enemies might be just what you need to wash that bad taste right out of your mouth. Review by: Josh Cleveland (http://www.overcranked.net)