Review: Public Enemies
Jul 3 2009 by The Journal
PERFECTIONIST director Michael Mann doffs his fedora to Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger in this beautifully-crafted biopic.
The film surveys a volatile period in America’s history when a group of hoodlums ran rings around J Edgar Hoover and his fledgling Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The battle of wits between the criminal fraternity and the police continues Mann’s fascination with men operating on the fringes of the law, echoing his earlier work in Heat and Miami Vice.
Here, however, there’s a noticeable imbalance in the screenplay.
While Dillinger is swaggering and charismatic, brought vividly to life through Johnny Depp’s eye-catching performance, his chief pursuer – agent Melvin Purvis – is cold and lifeless.
As portrayed by Christian Bale, the lawman is mechanical and almost devoid of emotion. It would come as no surprise if in the final frames, Purvis turned to the camera and revealed that he was an automaton sent back in time from Bale’s other summer blockbuster, Terminator Salvation.
Mann begins at the Indiana State Penitentiary where Dillinger (Depp) and his associate springs a number of their cohorts from the slammer.
“Let’s go to Chicago, make some money,” he roars as they head west, relieving the banks of their savings to the embarrassment of the boys in blue.
Hoover (Billy Crudup) pledges to capture America’s first public enemy number one as a demonstration of his department’s ability.
While Dillinger’s gang continues to hit headlines, especially when a sociopath joins its ranks, Dillinger makes the fatal mistake of falling in love with Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard), who the authorities aim to use as bait to flush him out of hiding.
The film masterfully evokes the era with impeccable production design and costumes.
While Mann’s loose shooting style, predominantly on handheld cameras, invests the film with a nervous energy that builds in the breathless action sequences.
Violence is brutal but used sparingly to devastating effect, including a horrific interrogation room sequence.
Depp brings a roguish charm to his role, kindling smouldering screen-chemistry with the luminous Cotillard. We experience a palpable tinge of sadness as walks to his doom with a fateful visit to the Biograph movie theatre to watch the Clark Gable gangster flick Manhattan Melodrama.
“If I can’t live the way I want, then at least let me die when I want,” says Gable’s character.
Dillinger lived exactly the way he wanted, and died among the citizens to whom he became a folk hero.
