DVD review: Public Enemies is good but fails to explain Dillinger's appeal

The combination of Johnny Depp, Christian Bale (The Dark Knight) and director Michael Mann (Heat) seems like a surefire recipe for success, especially when they’re making a film about notorious 1930’s gangster John Dillinger. 

Time for me to bust out with some “new” internet slang I just learned.  Public Enemies is all about “anticipointment.”  I was excited about this project and this group of filmmakers but sadly the film never fully comes together and leaves you feeling shortchanged.

The film chronicles the exploits of Dillinger (Depp) who became public enemy  No. 1 after committing a daring string of bank robberies.  Federal agent Melvin Purvis (Bale) was hand-picked by J. Edgar Hoover to lead up the task force charged with bringing the gangster to justice.  Living life to the fullest, Dillinger would meet the love of his life; a coat check girl named Billie Frechette. 

Together, they skirted the law until the fateful day the FBI gunned Dillinger down outside a Chicago movie theater.

Michael Mann has always been interested in the duality of crime and many of his films explore the relationship between cop and crook (Heat and Manhunter) or crook and victim (Collateral).  He handles this relationship brilliantly in Heat and but Mann seems a bit off his game in recent years.  His last film, Miami Vice, should have been a great crime film but instead it was an overly long bore.  Public Enemies isn’t boring at all, but it should have been a lot better.

Mann’s cast is great and Depp does his usual job of injecting charm into his character.  He portrays Dillinger as calm, assured and cool.  He’s likeable.  Bale, however, seems a little lost and stiff.  As in Heat, the cop and crook really only share one scene together, but while Pacino and DeNiro’s exchange in that film was legendary (if all too short), Public Enemies has no such excitement. 

Bale’s Purvis tries to maintain order and he’s the dutiful lawman, but it’s not a character you really care about except that he represents the law.  At the same time, Mann fails to exploit the fact that Dillinger was a folk hero to people suffering through the Great Depression.  This is explained many times in the DVD bonus features, but you never get a sense of it in the film.

Dillinger’s girl is played by Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose), but like Bale, she doesn’t get a lot of good material to work with.  Instead, she appears awkward in the role and her relationship with Dillinger/Depp never draws you in.

The actor who shines best is Billy Crudup (Watchmen) as J. Edgar Hoover.  He brilliantly exhibits Hoover’s obsessive and paranoid behavior and his scenes are far too few.

Technically, the film is well-shot and Mann makes good uses of the real life locations where Dillinger’s exploits took place.  The set design and costumes are immaculate and the action scenes crackle with violence and realism.  Despite all this, Public Enemies doesn’t have much of a soul.  You just don’t feel for anybody in this movie, least of all Purvis or Frechette.

When it’s all said and done Public Enemies is a cold, uninvolving movie that disappoints when it shouldn’t have.  It’s not a complete failure, it’s just average and when the end credits rolled, my only thought was “meh.”

Movie rating:
3 out of 5

Rated R for gangster violence and some language

The DVD

The 2-disc special edition is a good pick-up for fans.  Mann’s high definition photography mostly looks natural, with the exception of a few scenes.  A good number of bonus features gives the package value.

Disc one
Commentary track with director Michael Mann

Larger than Life: Adversaries (10:20) – The cast and crew discuss Dillinger and Purvis and how they approached representing their relationship in the movie.

Disc two
Michael Mann: Making Public Enemies (20:33) – Mann discusses his approach to working with the cast and how he used real locations to help get them into their roles.

Last of the Legendary Outlaws (8:45) – The Dillinger crime spree could be considered the end of the “Wild West” style lawlessness of old America.  His life is compared to other criminals of his era.

On Dillingers Trail: The Real Locations (9:50) – The production shot pivotal scenes in the same areas where Dillinger fought police and broke out of jail.

Criminal Technology (9:42) – This featurette is all about the Tommy Guns, fast cars, heavy ordinance and modern crimefighting techniques created during this era.

The special features are all interesting but for all the talk about actors’ motivations, I would have liked the film more if I got to know a little more about Dillinger and Purvis.  We see what they did, but we don’t get to know much about them and for this reason, the movie is a disappointment.

Bonus Features rating
4 out of 5
 

Tony Robinson is a past host of KATU's Movie Guys film review segment and currently reviews movies exclusively for KATU.com. He lives in Portland with his wife, son and action figure collection. He can be reached at tonerobe@hotmail.com.