Movie Review: Public Enemies

By Justin Velasquez
July 2, 2009

It's high time for Academy Award-nominated actor Johnny Depp to return to a role that's a bit more... normal.  From playing an unusual candy maker to an eccentric pirate to a vengeful barber, Depp picks up the Tommy gun and dons a fedora to become John Dillinger, the infamous Depression era bank robber.  For this new film from stylish director Michael Mann, Depp takes on another real-life persona, witness to his roles as John Wilmot (The Libertine), Sir James Matthew Barrie (Finding Neverland), George Jung (Blow) and Joe Pistone (Donnie Brasco).     

Depp's performance is one of many highlights in this intense action-drama.  Public Enemies is a simple film with a simple story: the search for and the apprehension of the slick criminal, John Dillinger.  J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup, Watchmen) is the director of the FBI and wages a public crusade to catch those who are responsible for a string of high-profile crimes across the Midwest.  Hoover appoints top agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale, Terminator Salvation) to head a special task force created specifically to find Dillinger and other "public enemies".  Purvis and the rest of his fellow "G-men" go to great lengths to apprehend any and all fugitives of justice.  At the top of the list is Dillinger, the FBI's most wanted criminal, especially since he was able to escape prison - twice.  Dillinger, along with fellow criminals Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham, Snatch), Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribisi, Saving Private Ryan), Ma Barker and Bonnie and Clyde were all caught in the crosshairs of the FBI's guns.

Enemies focuses on Johnny Depp and his role as Dillinger - and he commands attention in every scene he's in.  Dillinger was a criminal of a different sort as his well-planned, Robin Hood-like approach to bank robberies gained him a popular cult following.  Ever confident and very intelligent, Dillinger never brought emotion to the table - he robbed banks as if it was a job and he was especially good at his lifelong profession.  He was always a step ahead of the authorities - even when behind bars.  His crime spree (and his daring jailbreaks) became stuff of legend. He became so infamous that even Frank Nitti, Al Capone's right-hand man, was forced to freeze Dillinger out of mob support and protection because his actions brought too much attention to criminals everywhere.

All of this is secondary to Dillinger; he's disciplined, calculating, cold and deceivingly vicious.  Although cash is the prize Depp ably conveys Dillinger as a man who does it simply for the thrill of it.  While his crew celebrates their latest score, Dillinger is busily planning the next heist.  The exhilaration he feels with each job is akin to a child seeing snow for the first time - he just can't get enough.  A testament to that is a scene where Dillinger arrogantly strolls into the Chicago office of the FBI, just to see if anyone would notice him.  He flirts with disaster by practically daring the Bureau to arrest him but he simply wants to make things just a little more interesting.

Dillinger's slight vulnerability is displayed, only briefly, with Billie Frechette (Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard).  Running out of options and with nowhere else to go his desire to get Billie in spite of constant surveillance and danger is a small opening that leads to his heart. 

Although Bale doesn't get as much screen time, his Purvis is similar to Dillinger.  Beginning with his capture of Pretty Boy Floyd his determination to rid America of crime is insatiable.  He's seen as an individual who isn't distracted by anything - his only goal is to find Dillinger and anyone else on the public enemies list.  Eerily, though, the FBI is portrayed as a threat to society that rivals the criminals they're chasing.  Their ideas and practices at this time are questionable at best, and one wonders if the title applies to more than just the bad guys.

As stylish as The Untouchables and just as mesmerizing as Heat, Public Enemies is this summer's big-budget art film.  Even with a simple good guy/bad guy theme, Mann's truthful storytelling successfully blurs the lines of where good ends and bad begins.  That ambiguity is what makes the film's intensity more intense and the realism more realistic.  With a running time of 140 minutes the film slows at certain points.  But those familiar with Mann's directing style will know that he loves to build tension for the first half of the film, then brings to the table an incredible anti-climactic shootout and finally ends it with a rousing, yet saddened, conclusion.  Mann sticks with this formula in Enemies, and for the most of his filmmaking career it has worked, so no need to change it now.  With the fine acting, the sharp writing and the amazing realism each scene contains it's safe to say that Public Enemies is a perfection of his trademark style. 

3.5 Stars out of Four