“Public Enemies,” starring Johnny Depp and Christina Bale, is good, but not great. It’s good in the sense that it has the right look and good acting. However, the heart of the movie lacks an emotional core and as a result, you really don’t care what happens to Dillinger. Director Michael Mann provides a formulaic cops & robbers tale with no character insight and no surprises. Of course, when you take a real-life criminal like John Dillinger, you know how it ends, but we never once get a glimpse into what makes him tick and Melvin Purvis fares no better. Bryan Burrough, who wrote a nonfiction book about Dillinger, said recently in an LA Times article that Mann’s movie contains mostly accurate information. Nonetheless, Mann did expand Frechette’s role and dressed his ‘Lady in Red’ in an orange skirt. Go figure that one.
Depp has the kind of on-screen charisma that makes him the perfect person to play a rebellious 1930s crook, one who loves making fools of the authorities. When coat check girl Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) questions him, he says, “I like baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars…and you. What else do you need to know?” The audience is supposed to swoon just as Billie does and follow him anywhere. Yeah, right. Bale plays Purvis as a straight-edged, no-nonsense agent in what is becoming the FBI. He is dogged in his pursuit of Dillinger, but the script gives him so little to work with that his character remains flat and undeveloped. Only the relationship between Dillinger and Billie provides some moments of character depth, but concentrate too much on this and the movie loses its focus. Mann does, however, capture an authentic look with the cars, the guns, the costumes, and the buildings. Too bad our emotions weren’t captured as well. 7/3/09
John Dillinger has become a "larger than life" character who terrorized the mid-west some 75 years ago and many stories have been written about his life. This fact may be the biggest problem with Johnny Depp's latest portrayal. Everyone pretty much knows the story and knows that he gets shot coming out of a movie theater spotted with the "Lady in Red". The only chance this movie has of becoming an important addition to the lore is Johnny Depp. His reenactment is pretty strong but not strong enough to carry this clunker into movie history. I give it a 2 bagger out of a possible 5.
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