Films Crime/Gangster Public Enemies (2009) | Public Enemies (2009) |
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| Written by Daniel Cann | |
| Monday, 06 July 2009 | |
From renowned director Michael Mann (‘Manhunter’, ‘Heat’, ‘The Insider’) comes this gangster thriller set in 1933. It begins with a jailbreak and follows the activities of bank robber and public enemy number one John Dillinger (Johnny Depp – nice to see him in something other than a pirate costume again). Billy Crudup plays the Head of the FBI, a young J Edgar Hoover (before he started wearing dresses, took cocaine and called himself Mary). Here Hoover is a clean-cut All-American who wants to wipe out people like Dillinger, making the streets for decent folks safe again. Step forward top ‘G-Man’ Melvin Purvis who is put on the case (a return to form for Christian Bale, playing a moral and upstanding Southerner convincingly). What follows over the next two plus hours is a battle of wits between Dillinger and Purvis, not unlike former Mann protagonists McCauley and Hanna from the exceptional ‘Heat.’
The period of 1930s America is well captured, the streets, cars and costumes are all spot on and the viewer is effortlessly transported to that time. The script is taut and full of the slang and vernacular from that particular era. Thumbs up and kudos so far. The film ‘looks’ and ‘sounds’ great. The music is evocative and captures and creates the characters moods and sets the atmosphere, just as in other Mann efforts. I will say that for its duration the audience will get no closer to who Dillinger was, there is not much depth, just a series of excellently staged and well-executed action sequences. This is what Mann does best, set a mood and entertain. My main gripe is that at times you feel strangely detached from proceedings. The usually excellent Stephen Graham is reduced to playing Baby Face Nelson as a trigger-happy sociopath, I suppose that was who he was but somehow I felt more could have been done to tell us who these people were. Compare this to Arthur Penn’s excellent ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967) from the same genre and you will see what I mean. In that film you were hooked and felt you knew the hopes and fears of the characters. Here we are given names and faces but no actual meat. Giovanni Ribisi as Alvin Karpis looks and sounds the part, but he is criminally underused (no pun intended). There are many fine supporting actors but they never have time to develop. That said the film is packed with action and suspense, just a little more substance added to the style would have been welcome. French actress Marion Cotillard, manages to infuse into her character of Dillinger’s moll, Billie Frechette a certain steel and dignity as well as striking beauty. Her scenes with Depp are touching and convincing. There is a lot to like about this film as it manages to show the advent of the modern age with fast cars, music, cinema, communication and celebrity all beginning to form into our consciousness and becoming part of our lives. In this era a man like Dillinger became something of a celeb and a ‘Robin Hood’ figure, Depp does manage to capture the charm and sheer audaciousness of the man well. You will enjoy this film and for my money it is the best film of Mann’s since ‘Heat’ way back in 1995. It’s just a wee bit too long for what it actually says and does. |
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