Public Enemies - Review

Michael Mann is perhaps one of American preeminent filmmakers. A brief glance over his CV will demonstrate that he falls into the auteur category as many of his films explore similar concepts and themes and he is famous for pitting two equally brilliant characters against each other, usually each falling on different sides of the law. And Public Enemies is very similar, almost too similar because where earlier efforts such as Collateral and Heat are considered exceptional works of cinema, Public Enemies flaws are glaringly obivous simply because it falls so far short of these earlier works. The reasons are also as baffling as the effect.

Public Enemies, the story of John Dillinger, America's most notorious bank robber, a villain who became a Robin Hood figure during the US Depression around the same time as Bonnie & Blyde, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd et al. The film also explores the hunt for Dillinger by Melvin Purvis, the brilliant federal agent hired by J Edgar Hoover to catch Dillinger and the other notorious villains of the time. We are introduced to Bale's Purvis as he calmly waits for his moment to gun down Pretty Boy Floyd and for me Bale comes out of the film on top in terms of performance, mainly because he manages so much with so little.

This unfortunately is the real problem. Mann and screenwriter Ann Biderman don't really give Depp or Dillinger any character to work with. These characters are legends, icons and myths, not real people struggling to deal with the changing face of society amidst the greatest economic turmoil the US has known in years. Mann also fails to fully explore how this situation helped create these villains and opportunists.

Another element which I found fascinating and infuriating in equal measure were that Hoover used Dillinger et al to help set up the FBI as we know it as bank robbers would cross state lines preventing pursuit from the authorities. Hoover, played will cold, methodical reserve by the always brilliant Billy Crudup - who may be one of my favourite actors, has an almost cameo role to play. Mann seems merely interested in contextualising the events he chooses to depict.

We brings me to perhap the most dissapointing aspect of Public Enemies. Mann reinvented to bank robbery with Heat, and with Public Enemeis I expected a unique view of the process Dillinger and his cohorts used to rob a bank in 1 minute 40 seconds. Instead we get a number of bank robberies which are practically identical and look mundane, a series of prison break outs which feel like nothing more than an excuse for Mann to deploy his deafening gun fire.

The gunfire also presents a connundrum as despite its defeaning effect, the rest of the sound design is really rather poor. I had to strain to hear dialogue and conversations, surely something which should not happen in this day and age of digital sound design and ADR.

However, for me, none of this compared to Dante Spinotti's cinemtography and Mann use of digital photography. At times it looked sumptuous, perfectly capturing the era, but mostly it was just annoying jerky handheld and gave the film a fake look, which made me feel this was less an acurate account of the life of Dillinger but instead a it revealed to filmic nature of the picture. Destroying the illusion and constantly reminding you that you were watching Johnny Depp play Dillinger. After Heat, Collateral, Ali and even Miami Vice I expected more from Mann. But then, most reviews I've read seemed to adore the look of the film, so I may be wrong.

Finally I would look to point out that I have yet to mention Depp's performance, which was good, but he never really indulged himself in playing a notorious bank robber, but this may be the lack of depth to the character in the script. Also, Marion Cotillard, an Oscar winner played a role which seemed irrelevant and redundant. A few scenes which failed to convey exactly why she fel for Dillinger. Again this highlights the suggestion that Mann felt with Dillinger's reputation that Depp playing him, why would audiences question such a thing.

For a film I having been looking forward to for a long time, I could really engage or enjoy Public Enemies and despite a solid ending the film feels like a dissapointment. Bale's performance was enough to get me through and the central action set piece confirmed Mann as one of few filmmakers able to direct a great gun fight, but that simply isn't enough.