Review: Public Enemies

Michael Mann knows how to film bank robberies. And when you have a man that knows how to film bank robberies making a movie about some of the most notorious bank robbers of all time, you know you are in for a treat.
The movie is based on actual events revolving around the pursuit and eventual killing of bank robber John Dillinger. He hangs with Baby Face Nelson and a crew of other wise guys who wield tommy guns like gangsters, which is convenient because they are gangsters. Real gangsters, not the shit we consider gangsters today.
Johnny Depp does a great job playing Dillinger. This role is so different for Depp, who usually explores weird-psychadelic-I'm-drunk-all-the-time roles. Dillinger is a likeable guy, a murder and notorious felon, but a guy you would have to invite to the party you are having because, well, he is the party. Depp covers this well, though I think if anyone else played the role I wouldn't have been too amazed. It was just odd to see Depp grounded.
Christian Bale plays the naive FBI poster boy Melvin Purvis, and is fantastic. I like how he never whips out the gruffy Batman voice, and he legit plays a character who thinks in tunnel vision and has no real experience or original ideas on how to catch Dillinger. This was good stuff reminiscent of Bale's great work in American Psycho or the Machinist, before he became an action movie icon.
Mann once again does a great job producing a well written screenplay and an authentic film. It doesn't FEEL like 1934, it IS 1934. And there is a big difference. He adds so many subtleties into his films, like the wise guy crew shoveling food into their mouths and hurriedly leaving their safe house to get ahead of the cops. That's right, bad guys have to eat too. And they do it on the run. I've said all this before in my induction of Heat into the HOF (back when I used to write HOF posts). Mann does a great job creating suspense AND having action, and they usually happen at the same time, which I think is a very hard thing to accomplish. You are worrying about one character while trying to dodge bullets with another. It's great.
Like the Celtics, the supporting cast in this movie rocks. It is so nice to see a movie where nearly every role is well acted, even the very minor ones. Stars of other movies play characters that are on screen for no more than a few minutes. It adds so much and makes the film consistent.
The movie does drag a little bit, it's just under two and a half hours, but there isn't really anything I would cut out. The story just takes time to tell.
I was happy to see a movie that had story line this summer.
Definitely check this movie out, it'll be a refreshing move from the shit storm of movies that has plagued theaters for the past few months.





- Dabs