Robin PottratzReview: "Public Enemies" is serviceable, but never cuts to the core **1/2 stars out of 4
August 9th 2009 17:33
Johnny Depp as John Dillinger in "Public Enemies"
Going into this summer, no movie was higher on my "must see" list than Michael Mann's Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, the famous depression era gangster. Given that Depp is one of cinemas great chameleons and that Michael Mann knows how to direct a crime drama (He helmed Heat, one of the greatest crime sagas in history), I was more than a little excited to see what this combination could do.
What they have done in Public Enemies is frustratingly hit or miss. We are invited along to ride with Dillinger and his gang on their exciting, minute long robberies...but we never are able to get inside the heads of Dillinger or his crew. Johnny Depp plays Dillinger with a suave mystique that Depp can pull off really well...its just uninteresting. Depp is at his best when he is at odds with his own vanity like in Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Pirates of the Caribbean but here we are left wanting him to give us more...which in this case is not a good thing.
The film centers around the cat and mouse game between Dillinger and the federal agent who is chasing him, Melvin Purvis, who is played by Christian Bale. Now comes the other aspect of Public Enemies that left me feeling empty. Christian Bale completely phones it in. After the debacle of Terminator Salvation and now this...I am starting to question Christian Bale's ability as an actor. He never exudes the proper intensity and inner conflict that Purvis had as he was torn between losing his own moral ground during the investigation, being a puppet for J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup, wonderfully creepy), and becoming obsessed with Dillinger. Bale is sleepwalking through most of this film and it is very disappointing.
Despite the disappointment of the two leads, Public Enemies does do a lot of things right. The scenes in which Dillinger robs banks in as he puts it "1 minute 30 seconds flat" are pulse pounding and very exciting. When Dillinger and his crew are raided by the FBI in Wisconsin's Little Bohemia Lodge in which all of Dillingers crew (except John) met their end is the closest the film comes to achieving greatness at the same level of Heat and that classic bank robbery scene, and the sequence in which Dillnger is gunned down in front of Chicago's Biograph theatre is shot with the intimacy and tension that you hoped would have filled the entire film.
Now, the supporting players are all top notch. Oscar Winner Marion Cotillard excels as Billie Frechette, the coat check girl who steals Dillinger's heart, I have already mentioned Billy Crudup who plays J. Edgar Hoover with a faux dashing swagger, as if he was trying to be Clark Gable himself.
The best performance in the film comes from Stephen Graham as Baby Face Nelson. Nelson was a maniacal, trigger happy psychopath, who represented the complete opposite of Dilliingers get in/get out philosophy...Graham plays him as the only bank robber who looks to have any fun during his chosen line of work...which is what injects some life into the film.
Public Enemies is by no means a bad film...Mann is simply incapable of making a bad film, however the film is so focused on the style of the depression era hero it is idolizing that any substance vanishes quickly. The film is beautiful to look at...and is always interesting to watch in digital...but we never feel any real connection to the figures on the screen...but there are glimpses of greatness, particularly in the action and set design that prevent the film from being a washout.
Compared to all of the sugary treats in the multiplex today, Public Enemies is the cinematic equivalent of a carrot...it is good for you and your mind...but it doesn't leave you with a good or memorable aftertaste.
| 42 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog