Public Enemies

There are times when a movie features such "can't lose" talent that you worry about expectations, or worry that it is too good to be true. On the surface, I was wondering if Public Enemies would be such a film, especially considering Michael Mann's last movie, Miami Vice. Jaime Foxx and Colin Ferrell are both very talented and the movie should have worked, but it was an epic failure. Here, Mann brings together Johnny Depp and Christian Bale and it is about bank robberies, so maybe it is more comparable to Heat. Heat is a movie everyone loves, that I think is overrated with such an amazing third act, you forget the first 2 hours are super boring, which is kind of typical for a Mann film. He does love really long movies and this would be no different, clocking in at a little over 2 and a half hours. So, I went in expecting mixed results, lowering my expectations, but was it enough?

John Dillinger(Depp) is not just an ordinary bank robber. He does it with flash and he then he hides in plain sight. He does not mess with the general public, because he needs to hide among them. He can escape jail whenever he wants it seems, and he does so twice in this story. He is a man who loves clothes, fast cars, baseball and one beautiful woman, Billie(Marion Cotillard). He does not plan for tomorrow and he is one arrogant criminal, but when you always have a way out, why not be arrogant? Tasked with catching him is Melvin Purvis(Bale). Purvis, fresh off of killing Pretty Boy Floyd(Channing Tatum) is the newly formed F.B.I's new hero. Purvis is a tight jawed law man with great suits and a moral conscience that keeps him on the right side of the law. Using new forensic science, Purvis believes he will catch Dillinger, but Dillinger has other things in mind. However, Dillinger has a weakness, Billie. He does not appear to really love the woman, but need someone to love and Billie happens to be her. He is constantly putting her in danger, and eventually gets her caught. Dillinger and Purvis do not exactly engage in chess match, because intelligence is often over looked for pure brute force and in those terms, Dillinger is more equipped because he is not afraid to kill. He looks charming and sharp, but he is a ruthless man, who loves a Tommy Gun.

For the first 90 minutes, Public Enemies is a pretty good movie. The two prison escapes are exciting in two different ways, the bank robberies, while kind of secondary are cool looking and the cast of criminals is filled out nicely. Then, well then, for the final hour, Public Enemies is totally kick ass. There is a very specific moment when this happens, and in typical Michael Mann fashion, it turns at a shoot out. The common opinion amongst movie fans is that Heat has the best shoot out in movie history. I want to make a semi bold statement and say that the shoot out in Public Enemies is vastly better than in Heat, even if they sort of follow the same timeline. Set in a log cabin style hotel/bar out in the middle of nowhere, the F.B.I opens fire from the woods and Dillinger's crew, from the hotel, return fire and for, what seems like 10 minutes, bullets fly back and forth with such sound and fury, that you flinch every time a Tommy Gun is unloaded. Then, after that, the scene transitions into this awesome cat and mouse chase through the woods, with more Tommy Guns and before it ends, a short car chase with more bullets before the whole thing ends in gun smoke and death. AWESOME!!

In terms of performances, it is nice to see Johnny Depp not be so freaking weird. Everyone knows he can do weird, but his charisma here is magnetic and scary, and very reserved. he keeps his Dillinger a mystery and an intelligent, nasty mystery at that. Bale, playing second fiddle yet again, is excellent. He has toned down his usual American growl, for a more buttoned down, slow burning thing. He is a man who is always thinking, but you get the feeling that he is always thinking he is over matched. He never seems sure in what he is saying or doing and Bale really delivers a wonderful supporting performance. It was so good, in fact, I kind wish he had more screen time because the character as seen through him, was pretty damn interesting. Fresh off an Oscar win, Marion Cotillard has a refreshing look and energy to her, but she is still learning how to master English and at times, her voice and enunciation are annoying, especially when she is upset or angry. She is a wonderful actress and she endures a scene that was almost impossible to watch, I cannot imagine how it was to shoot the scene.

Speaking of shooting the movie, Michael Mann is at the center of a debate that is beyond my knowledge of film(I am trying to learn though) about the differences in shooting in digital or shooting on film. Mann shoots everything digitally, which gives Public Enemies a kind of documentary feel, complete with some hand held camera work. However, it has been said that using shooting in digital has drawbacks, and one of those drawbacks appears to be sound quality because there were long stretches of dialog that were hard to hear and I thought it was just the auditorium in which I watched, but IMDB tells me otherwise. Also, at times, the background was distracting, because digital puts more shots in deep focus, which means on film, the background is at times out of focus and therefore you can better pay attention to the forefront, but in digital, the background does not always go out of focus. That being said, there are some truly stunning shots and there is some serious visual flare in moments. The whole sequence of events at the tail end are gorgeous and interesting visually and when Dillinger is brought out of the plane earlier, the shooting is phenomenal, like digital shoots better with less light than film.

Having Michael Mann direct a movie like Heat but adding Tommy Guns, is pretty freaking brilliant, but there are things left to be desired. I would have liked to have seen more focus on the formation of The F.B.I and probably less time on the Billie and Dillinger romance because it felt shoved in there for girls to fawn over the bad boy being in love. However, the violence is real enough, with fits and bursts of blood and bullet holes. The cars are sexy, the clothes are cool, the guns are loud and Johnny Depp makes one very pretty gangster. The sense of history is not exactly sound, as Pretty Boy Floyd was killed after Dillinger, but I understand the movie wanted to show Purvis as a worthy opponent for Dillinger, even though it is pretty clear that he is not. Yet, movies are not meant as history lessons, so that can be forgiven. Public Enemies works more than it doesn't work and with a final hour that good, it is hard to really find fault with it, plus, it gives yet another crazy portrayal of the greatest criminal ever, Babyface Nelson. If movies are to believed, this guy was so freaking manic, it is awesome to see him on screen.

Final Grade: B+