Public Enemies

Plot synopsis:
The film opens in 1933 as John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) is brought to the Indiana State Prison by his partner John "Red" Hamilton (Jason Clarke), under the disguise of a prisoner drop (with Dillinger posing as the prisoner). Inside the prison, several gang members, Charles Makley (Christian Stolte), Harry Pierpont (David Wenham), Ed Shouse (Michael Vieau), Homer Van Meter (Stephen Dorff), and Walter Dietrich (James Russo) acquire guns smuggled into the prison inside boxes of thread sent to the prison's shirt factory, with which they take a few guards hostage and march them to the changing rooms. At the same time, the warden that meets Dillinger and Hamilton suddenly recognizes Dillinger. Dillinger admits to his identity, and at this point, he suddenly springs his handcuffs off, and he and Hamilton conjure shotguns and force the warden to open the door to the break room at gunpoint, at the moment that the other inmates come in. They force the guards to take off their uniforms at gunpoint. Everything goes as planned until Shouse suddenly beats a guard to death in a fit of rage and another guard gets shot. A running shootout ensues as the men run towards the waiting car. Unfortunately, a sniper on the wall shoots Dietrich in the back just as he is about to get into the car, mortally wounding him, and a furious Dillinger kicks Shouse out of the car.In East Liverpool, Ohio, Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) and several other FBI agents are running down Pretty Boy Floyd (Channing Tatum). As Floyd sprints through an apple orchard, Purvis aims a rifle at him, fires one round, and misses, as Floyd fires back a burst from his Thompson submachine gun. Purvis sets his sights, aims, and fires again. The bullet goes straight through Floyd's chest and mortally wounds him.Meanwhile, Dillinger's gang reaches a hideout, where crooked Chicago cop Martin Zarkovich (John Michael Bolger) convinces them to hide out in Chicago, where they can be sheltered by the Mafia. Dillinger exchanges brief words with a Mafia car dealer and close acquaintance Anna Sage (Branka Katic).We next see Dillinger, Pierpont and Makley walking up the stairs into the lobby of a bank in Racine, Wisconsin, wearing dull overcoats and bowler hats. Pierpont, the lobby man, overpowers one of the guards and orders everyone to get on the floor, while Dillinger leaps over a railing, grabs the bank manager, and plays "Spin the Dial," by marching him to the vault at gunpoint. Makley clears money from the teller cages into a duffel bag. When the manager appears to be stalling, Dillinger strikes him over the head with a pistol and gives him the choice of being a dead hero or a live coward. The manager complies.Outside, we see Van Meter acting as the lookout, hiding a rifle under his coat. He turns to his left at the sound of screeching tires and sees a car pull to a stop in the middle of the street. He quietly backs into the doorway and taps his rifle against the door to inform the robbers inside that they have company. The men inside do not stop working, though, as the money bags are thrown to Pierpont, and Dillinger takes the bank manager as a hostage. He notices a customer with some spare money out and assures him, "I'm not here for your money, I'm here for the bank's."In the car, Hamilton, the getaway driver, checks his watch, and pulls forward just as the first cops climb out of their vehicle and run towards the bank. As the first cop reaches the door and tells him to leave, Van Meter asks "What for?" Before the cop can react, Van Meter suddenly whips out his rifle, strikes the cop across the neck (knocking off the cop's peaked cap), and locks him into a chokehold with his left hand, levels his rifle over the cop's right shoulder, and fires on the police. As pedestrians flee the scene, Dillinger, Pierpont and Makley exit the bank with their own hostages. The shields keep the police from firing on the robbers, until a detective fires a pistol. With their Thompson submachine guns, the robbers mow down the cops and speed away, dumping their hostages on the outskirts of town.In Washington, DC, BOI director J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) is frustrated after his latest request for additional funding is turned down, after he admits that he has not made a single arrest in his lifetime. Struggling to expand his Bureau into a national police agency, he meets with Purvis, and assigns him to lead the manhunt for John Dillinger, announcing to reporters that he is declaring the first "War on Crime".In Chicago, Dillinger meets Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard), his love interest, at a restaurant, and proceeds to woo her by buying her a fur coat. Frechette falls for Dillinger even after he tells her who he is, and the two quickly become inseperable.Purvis and his men, meanwhile, trace the overcoat that Dillinger gave to a female bank teller hostage as a souvenir and also track down the car dealer. Tracing the car, he leads a failed ambush at a hotel where he believes Dillinger is staying. One agent, Warren Barton, is gunned down by trigger-happy Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham), who then escapes after a shootout.The next day, Dillinger, Pierpont and Makley walk into another bank, wearing overcoats to hide their guns. Dillinger and Pierpont walk towards one guard, whom Pierpont overpowers at the same moment that Dillinger whips out pistols in each hand. As Pierpont and Makley handle the lobby, Dillinger leads the bank manager over to the vault at gunpoint, training one gun on the manager and one on the lobby.That night, Hoover is seen reprimanding Purvis for his bungled attempt to arrest Nelson. Purvis demands that Hoover bring in professional lawmen who know how to catch criminals dead or alive, including Texas "cowboy" Charles Winstead (Stephen Lang). We later see Purvis greeting Winstead and the other new arrivals when they arrive at Union Station.Meanwhile, Dillinger, Billie and the members of Dillinger's gang spend some time in Florida watching horse races, then lay low in Tucson. While Dillinger and Billie are in their hotel room, three men with shotguns burst in and arrest Dillinger. Dillinger learns from Pierpont and Makley, who have also been arrested, that a fire broke out in their hotel room, the firefighters found their guns, and turned them in to the police.Dillinger is extradited back to Indiana where he is locked up pending trial. A syndicate lawyer, Louis Piquett, manages to convince the trial judge to keep Dillinger locked up in the Lake County Jail in Crown Point. Dillinger eventually escapes from Crown Point on March 3, a week before his trial, with another inmate, Herbert Youngblood, by carving a fake wooden gun, tricking a guard into opening his cell, then overpowering the other guards and escapes in Sheriff Lillian Holley's car.Dillinger is unable to see Frechette, who is under tight surveillance. Dillinger learns that Frank Nitti's (Bill Camp) Chicago Outfit associates are now unwilling to help him. And for a good reason: Dillinger's crimes are motivating the government to begin prosecuting interstate crime as a federal offense, which imperils Nitti's lucrative bookmaking racket.Later, Dillinger meets fellow bank robber Tommy Carroll (Spencer Garrett) in a movie theater; with him is Ed Shouse, who wants to rejoin the gang. Carroll goads Dillinger into a bank robbery job in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, promising a huge score. Even though Baby Face Nelson is involved, whom he doesn't like, Dillinger agrees, since he intends to use the money to break Pierpont and Makley out of prison.We next cut to a motorcycle cop pulling up on a street corner, where pedestrians are gathered, watching something with great interest. As the cop dismounts, gunshots suddenly ring out and pedestrians scatter as the cop falls, struck four times. The gunfire is Nelson, inside the bank, firing through a plate glass window. He screams "I got one!", laughs maniacally, and then fires another volley into the ceiling. Van Meter, startled by the noise, quickly grabs a hostage outside the bank while the men inside the bank just look oddly at Nelson. Frustrated at the fact that there is less money than they wanted, Dillinger grabs this bank manager and other hostages and they begin to leave. But as they leave, Nelson suddenly opens fire, sparking a shootout with police and vigilantes up and down the street. Dillinger is shot in the arm, and Carroll is shot in the head and left for dead. The men climb into their car, and retreat to a hideout at Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin. Dillinger expresses hope he can free the rest of his gang still in prison, including Pierpont and Makley, but Red convinces him this is unlikely to happen.Purvis and his men apprehend Carroll (who is still alive) and torture him to find the rest of the gang's location, despite the doctor's insistence on giving Carroll medication (and Purvis threatening to run him in for obstruction of justice if he tried to intervene).They arrive at Little Bohemia and Purvis organizes another failed ambush. Unfortunately, when a car leaves the lodge containing three locals, they mistake it for the robbers' vehicle, and they end up accidentally killing a few innocent civilians and tipping off the inhabitants inside. In the shootout that follows, Dillinger and Red escape separately from Nelson and the rest of the gang. Agents Charles Winstead and Clarence Hurt (Don Frye) pursue Dillinger and Hamilton through the woods on foot, engaging them in a running gun battle in which Red is mortally wounded.Down the road, Nelson shoots and kills Purvis's partner Carter Baum (Rory Cochrane) and steals his car. Purvis and another agent, Johnny Madala, hop onto an arriving BOI car and chase down Nelson, who picks up Shouse and Van Meter. As the BOI car closes in on the gangsters' car, Purvis opens fire from the running boards with his Thompson submachine gun. Van Meter returns fire with a BAR rifle until it jams. Purvis fires a shot that hits the radiator and causes Nelson to lose control of the car and skid off the road into a field, where it flips over twice before coming to a stop. Shouse is killed by the crash. Van Meter gets out of the car and tries to make a break for it, but is gunned down by Purvis. Nelson gets out and opens fire, and another agent is shot dead as he tries to draw a submachine gun. Simultaneously, Purvis fires his pistol and Madala fires a shotgun, both rounds hitting Nelson, who briefly falls over but continues to fire. Purvis continues to fire his pistol into Nelson until he finally falls to the ground, dead.Further down the road, Dillinger and Hamilton steal a farmer's car and make good their escape; Hamilton dies later that night and Dillinger buries his body, covering it in lye.Dillinger manages to meet Frechette, telling her he plans to do one last job that will pay enough for them to escape together. However, Dillinger drops her off at a hotel he thinks is safe and helplessly watches as she is captured. Tears sting his eyes as he drives away, unnoticed by the feds.An interrogator, Agent Harold Reinecke (Adam Mucci) viciously beats Frechette to learn Dillinger's whereabouts, but she refuses to talk; Purvis and Winstead arrive and angrily break up the interrogation. Meanwhile, Dillinger is meeting with Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribisi), who tries to recruit a disinterested Dillinger in a train robbery with his associates, the Barker Gang. Dillinger receives a note from Billie through his lawyer, Louis Piquett (Peter Gerety), telling him not to try and break her out of jail.Through crooked cop Zarkovich, Purvis enlists the help of Anna Sage, who is facing inevitable deportation and wants to set up Dillinger in an attempt to stay in the United States.The agents only know that there are two possible theaters Dillinger could be going to: the Biograph Theater, which is showing the Clark Gable gangster film Manhattan Melodrama, or the Marbro, which is showing the Shirley Temple movie Little Miss Marple. Ultimately, it is the former theater.When the movie is over, Dillinger, Sage, and his girlfriend Polly Hamilton, leave as Purvis and his men move in. Dillinger spots the police and tries to draw his gun, but is hit at least four times. Two bullets only nick him, while another goes through his chest, while the fourth and fatal shot enters Dillinger through the back of his head, tears through his spinal cord and brain, and exits above his right eye. Winstead leans down to see if Dillinger is saying something as he dies, but tells Purvis that he couldn't hear a thing.Later, Winstead meets Frechette in prison. He tells her that Dillinger's dying words were "Tell Billie for me, 'Bye bye Blackbird.'" The closing text reveals that Melvin Purvis quit the FBI shortly afterwards and died by his own hand in 1960, and that Billie lived out of the rest of her life in Wisconsin following her release in 1936, and died in 1970.

Tags: boring, neo noir, depressing, murder, violence, psychedelic, romantic

Review:
Squinty-eyed stares can only convey so much, after all.Michael Mann seems to be in a terrible hurry to tell this story, as he is stuck between the rock of having to relate a relatively complete "crime-ography" of a notorious American gangster and the hard place of keeping the movie shorter than 2 1/2 hours.As a result, a beautifully shot and edited movie that had a lot of promise ends up little more than a dumb, shoot-'em-up action movie wearing the fedora of "historical romance." Good for a date, but not a serious film.Grade: C+.
Things to look for: Mann's ham-handed and laughably obvious political commentary on the use of torture about 2/3 of the way through the movie; psychotically trigger-happy Baby Face Nelson well-played by Stephen Graham; cool old products (Zenth radio); great fashion sense..
Many of the scenes are well paced, but in its running time the film feels like a very rushed overview of the final years of John Dillinger.
Public enemies, Johnny Depp never truly gets to define what he feels are the most important aspects of his portrayal of Dellinger because often the film gets too caught up in the action and events instead of its characters.Christian Bale bounces back after a sub-par performance in 'Terminator: Salvation' and it's good to see him working his voice manipulation ability again, because I for one was beginning to think he'd gotten stuck on his Batman-style growl.
Playing the FBI agent pursuing Dillinger he is an interesting character due to his dedication and could have been a really interesting character, but like Depp, Bale never really gets a chance to try and expand on his character.The music isn't anything you haven't heard before in previous crime films of this sort, but for the most part it works.
Also, songs from the 30s are played throughout, and most of the time they manage to fit into the story's many montage scenes very well.Director Michael Mann seems a tad bit off when compared to some of his previous films.
So this is a pretty film to look at, and with Depp and Bale it's a good way to introduce those unfamiliar with Dillinger to the criminal, but if you were looking for a character study on the bank robber you may find yourself a tad-bit disappointed.I wouldn't come close to calling Public Enemies one of the best movies of the summer, or of the year, but when compared to several other films that are currently being screened I would still highly recommend it.
Much of the film focuses on the love story between Dillinger and Billie Frechette (Marion Cottillard) It's also interesting to see the other gangsters of this time and how they relate to Dillinger and the criminal world.Much has been made of Public Enemies being filmed on HD video, mostly complaints.
It points instead to the wider focus of Mann's book source -- 'Vanity Fair' writer Bryan Burroughs' 600 pages of meticulous research, 'Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34.' Relentless G-man Purvis (a convincing but bloodless Christian Bale) and his rising boss FBI chief J.
Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup, both droll and period) are part of another story as important as the bank robber's final wide ride, the story of the growing cruelty and relentlessness of the forces of American law.Look at another title of a movie about a doomed but spectacular crime spree: Arthur Penn's 'Bonnie and Clyde.' That 1967 classic works so well because it's character-driven.
Even in the sketchy but powerful scenes that outline John Dillinger's romance with French-Native American hatcheck girl Billie Frechette (Marion Cottillard, working wonders with limited material), character is subsidiary to function: "I rob banks," Johnny says.
The final adventures on John Dillinger's life look and feel like a work of fiction and I suspect that in "Public Enemies" they are, 50/50, fact and fiction.
Melvin Purvis(Christian Bale) is assigned the task of leading this group of agents.Johnny Depp is as usual great, but you get a feeling he would have been even better if the script had given enough scope to explore the character of Dillinger.
Except for a weird scene in which Dillinger walks into the Chicago police station and wanders around, there's a very down-to-earth approach to the character, taking away his more mythical elements and leaving us with a career robber who, like James Caan's character in Thief, seems to abstractly decide to fall in love to make up for lost time.The movie focuses obsessively on this relationship, instead of the more obvious paths it could have taken.
With Billie Holiday singing her heart out and the subtle details of cracked nail polish and $3 dresses, Public Enemies brings you into the era of the Great Depression without boring you with back stories and explanations.It is an honest bio-pic with little factual variations outside of John Dillinger's romantic ambitions.
A time when people were starving and in need of a gun-toting, charismatic mid-western boy to stir things up a bit, one bank robbery at a time.A Cast of Winning Players Director Michael Mann is known best for Heat, Collateral and Miami Vice.
The romance between Dillinger and Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) was interesting but felt clichéd (gangsters always have THAT chick in these movies) and just like real life that political blowhard J.Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) is the only real "bad guy" in the entire film.Final Thoughts It felt like a different time period and the choreography of the gunfights were done well enough to keep me interested.
Johhny Depp is superb as Dillinger, Christian Bale a thoroughly convincing Melvin Purvis, his taciturn but determined G-Man nemesis.A plot curio is that some time is given over to J Edgar Hoover's fight to establish an FBI with Purvis operating as his local enforcer.But the role is under developed, it could be dropped with no impact on the plot, making you wonder how much extra footage was left on the cutting room floor, hopefully set for an appearance on the DVD.Marion Cotillard, a native Frenchwoman, plays the part of the leading lady, and Dillingers love interest, well enough.
In a role which offers infrequent appearances, she conforms to the genre requirements of being easily bedded, hit, and cries on demand.Critics have queried the way that the digital film is shot.There is none of the lushness of "last of the Mohicans", nor the grittiness of "Collateral", but the compelling plot leaves little time to worry about that.Review audiences also complained of poor sound quality and mumbled dialogue, not faults that I could identify with on this showing.The "showdown" between Dillinger and Purvis happens early on, in a scene which is played straight and without lingering fanfare, it is certainly no re-run of De Niro v Pacino in "Heat".If the film lacks anything it is a sense of Tragedy, so wonderfully apparent in De Palma's "Carlitos Way".
Depp and Purvis are played so ruthlessly and efficiently by Depp and Bale that pathos and emotional attachment are on pretty short display.The period is lovingly recreated by Mann and the action sequences, unsurprisingly, never fail to disappoint, indeed when Dillinger is first shown robbing a bank his vault over the counter is seen in graceful slow motion.
I love gangster movies, I think Christian Bale is one of the best actors around, I think Johnny Depp is always decent, and I think Michael Mann is a great director.
And Depp and Bale are the lucky ones, since the excellent supporting cast really has nothing of any interest to do, and the love story, which is given a prominent place in the marketing campaign, taking up a very minor part and being unconvincing to boot.As much as I wanted to like this movie, I just couldn't.
I would say Eastern Promises, Gangs of New York, Road to Perdition, Collateral and The Departed came close, but they are more just good movies of their own.Public Enemies is the first film in my opinion to have captured the essence of crime drama in a long time.
Michael Mann sees no need to limit the time it takes him to tell his stories, and he certainly has little care for his audience's time.The film feels under lit, often out of focus, and scenes play with little sense of dramatic or cinematic structure.
The editing in the first half of the film is particularly gratuitous and confusing when coupled with the hand held camera work and dour, flat lighting; the viewer's eye can make no sense of the composition or relationship of shot to shot and is instead presented with a scramble of action.There have been so many well told depression era gangster stories over the years, but "Public Enemies" will not rank among them, as in general, the amount of talent that is ultimately squandered in this film, from the cast, Director of Photography, and Editors, to the score and Sound Mixing, illustrates that Michael Mann is a man not unlike Dillinger in his own way: it is inevitable that he will continue to go on until someone stops him..
Johnny Depp is rather good as the bank robber John Dillinger, and Christian Bale is not bad as Melvin Purvis, the agent chasing him.
Formulaic is not always bad – but movies require something new as well to keep me entertained.Set in 1933 during the Depression, John Dillinger is Public Enemy #1 and we see him on many accounts robbing banks, escaping the seemingly useless lawmen, and murdering people who get in his way.
Yet, thanks to the acting, directing and photography, I found it an interesting film.Johnny Depp isn't just some actor who likes to play weird roles; he's simply a good actor who can be convincing whether he's "Edward Scissorhands," Willie Wonka" or "Public Enemy No. 1 (Dillinger)." It also was interesting to see Marion Cotillard, the star who played singer Edith Piaf in "La Vie En Rose," playing Dillinger's girl "Billie Freschette." Wow, it seems like very strange casting, but it works.
Purvis is portrayed by Christian Bale in a fine performance, yet the script is so light on the character that we don't really know what his role is supposed to be in the film.The thing that holds the film together, however, is not the impressiveness of Mann's direction and the fantastic sets, but the romance between Dillinger and Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard).
You could say one of the toughest things for an actor to do is to make life out of a dull script, but somehow Depp and Cotillard both pull it off.With all of the good stuff that I have mentioned, from the lead performances to the great action sequences, I couldn't help but feel a sense of frustration as I walked out of the theater.
"Public Enemies", Michael Mann's account of John Dillinger's (Johnny Depp) crime wave and his romantic involvement with a young beauty (Marion Cotillard), has technical pros (the film vs.
I wasn't turned off by the use of HD in "Public Enemies" and actually think it gave the movie an interesting, unusual look – you could see the pores, wrinkles on Depp's and Christian Bale's faces like never before.My main problem with the film is the lack of character development and, why not say, soul to the whole package (So let me end the technical discussion here).
Depp is charismatic, and Cotillard, who delivered one of my favourite screen performances of all time in "La Vie en Rose" (and earned an Oscar for it), isn't bad, but is not given much to do (and unlike the likes of a Juliette Binoche, she doesn't sound very convincing in English yet; she seems much more comfortable in her own language, which doesn't mean I'm bashing her efforts because I believe she will have a wonderful international career, and I'm looking forward to seeing her with Daniel Day-Lewis in the musical "Nine" later this year).
It doesn't always work as a gangster film, and the love story at the core doesn't ring true.I think it was Billy Wilder who once said "Nobody is gonna remember after a movie: what a great shot!
This is NO "Bonnie and Clyde", and as cool as Mann's camera angles and visual approach can be, they're not half as groundbreaking as Dede Allen's daring editing job in Arthur Penn's masterpiece (back in 1967, and still as compelling over four decades later).The way it is, "Public Enemies" has good moments and technical achievements, but seems more like a curious exercise in style than a really good movie.6.5/10..
In 1933, in the fourth year of the Great depression, the bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) challenges the law with his gang and is considered Public Enemy #1.
Meanwhile Dillinger falls in love for Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) and Melvin and his men stakes her out trying to catch the outlaw.I had great expectations with "Public Enemies" and I am quite disappointing with this gangster movie.
Made at the time when Johnny Depp was still one of Hollywood's finest & most bankable stars, it's a well-conceived project that was poorly executed in the end.Set during the Great Depression, the story of Public Enemies chronicles the last years of notorious bank robber John Dillinger & his associates, who flourished during a booming crime wave in 1930s Chicago.
The plot covers their numerous heists while also focusing on Dillinger's own personal life as they are being pursued by an agent of FBI, which was still in its early years.Co-written & directed by Michael Mann (best known for Heat), Public Enemies recreates the early 1930 era in fine detail and employs the right props & setting to add more authenticity to its overall surroundings.
Unfortunately the screenplay feels a little bloated at times and the truth is that while Michael Mann is a consummate professional as director, his films always possess a certain coldness that makes it hard to get close to the characters.And that's the case here.
It ends up a middling Mann film, lacking the urgency of The Insider and the power of Heat (Mann's two best films.) The picture opens auspiciously in 1933, with a thrilling jailbreak by Dillinger, who is introduced in glorious close up, and Johnny Depp playing Dillinger holds that shot like few other actors working.
In the words of John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) spoken to his love interest Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard, A Good Year), "I like baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars...
John Dillinger is one such criminal, claiming bragging rights to the fact that he can clear out a safe in "one minute and forty secondsflat." With the help of Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd there really isn't any bank they can't knock over or any jail cell secure enough to hold them in, that is until they are matched by the likes of FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale).
The script is at times unintentionally laughable, clichéd, trite, historically inaccurate and ultimately boring.The lighting is so poor that at times the film appears to have been filmed in a closet, the dialog is often unintelligible and the musical score at times is intrusive.Michael Mann's ham-handed directing and producing worked much better on the small screen in Miami Vice and Crime Story.Christian Bale is noteworthy solely for the utter ineptitude he brings to his performance as Melvin Purvis.
I've never been a fan of his but here in "Public Enemies" he is particularly dreadful.The saving grace of the film (and the only reason I gave it two stars instead of the one it so richly deserves) is Johnny Depp's nuanced performance as John Dillinger.
The ending of "Public Enemies" thus makes for absorbing viewing, helped along by the realization that these events actually happened.That said, I find little of interest in this mostly factual account of public enemy number one, John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), and attempts by Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) to catch him, under the watchful eye of J.
This film is blended with enough action and your traditional bad guy against good theme to make it a must see for any film fan and the acting and chemistry between the characters which features some of the best working in film today like Depp, Cotillard and Bale make it even much more of a treat.Set in the 1930's Midwest during the great depression the film starts off rather heavy as criminal John Dillinger(played wonderful by Johny Depp)burst out of an Indiana jail and right away becomes a dangerous and brazen bank robber of the 1930's depression era as one by one he's robbing banks and breaking out of jails.
I saw Public Enemies today.I was interested in seeing it as I am a fan of mafia films.Not just ones set during the 1930's, but all of them.Michael Mann is also usually a good director as well.I knew little about John Dillinger so I do not know how historically accurate this film is.The performances were great.Johnny Depp played a good role as mobster John Dillinger and Christian Bale's acting was great as well.The plot involves the police trying to find and arrest John Dillinger, who escaped from jail and commits a series of bank robberies, while falling in love with this one girl.The movie is not boring, there is a good mix of action as well as plot.It's a bit long(2 hrs 20 min), but not as long as other gangster films such as "The Godfather".My only problem with the film was, at times the camera was shaky and made the film look a bit cheap.I don't know if Mann intended to do this.It wasn't a big deal for me, but some people may not like it.If you like crime/drama's, it's definitely worth watching..
Think 'Heat' meets 'The Untouchables' it's a brilliant gangster film about John Dillinger, played expertly by Johnny Depp, America's public enemy number one.
Public Enemies, the latest film from director Michael Mann, is a film that is entertaining, but comes short of true greatness.The film chronicles the adventures of bank robber John Dillinger in 1933.