Review for Public Enemies

Director: Michael Mann

Released: 2009
Genre: Crime Drama

I think that audiences have been led to believe that Public Enemies is a biography on the notorious bank robber John Dillinger. Such an implication is misleading; Public Enemies is not a biography so much as a standard love story parading as a maverick spaghetti western. It is wildly inaccurate historically, instead cannonizing Dillinger's persona more than anything. Stanley Kubrick did the same thing in his adaptation of A Clockwork Orange with leading anti-hero Alex Delarge, with much greater success; despite Alex's ghastly behavior, I found his persona to be likable- which made the movie that much more chilling to reflect upon. In Public Enemies, I did not harbor any emotional attachment at all to Dillinger by the end. In fact, I wanted him to die sooner so that the movie would finish.

Granted, there are some aspects of Public Enemies that are certainly done well- after all, Michael Mann directed Heat- but every time the story picked up, the romantic element between Dillinger and his flame, Billie Frenchette, stymied the progress. The shootouts and jail breaks may have been well done, but I did not find them thrilling. I was too busy wondering how the characters could be shot so many times and still manage to shoot back. The soundtrack was pretty annoying, too; it was a mix of period accurate jazz music, a typical orchestral score, and these really chintzy, distorted blues guitar numbers. The transitions between the three musical elements seemed disjointed as well, and made me cringe a few times.

John Dillinger is played by Johnny Depp in Public Enemies, and his performance is not bad. Christian Bale's stab at portraying Melvin Purvis, the man who eventually dispatches Dillenger, is not disappointing either. But neither Bale nor Depp deserve an Oscar, despite my prediction that at least one will receive a nomination. Marion Cotillard plays Frenchette- her performance is occasionally riveting, but more often than not unconvincing. The many underlings of both leading men are also played well, but I cannot for the life of me remember any of their names, save for Baby Face Nelson.

In the end, I was actually more bored by the conclusion of Public Enemies than of Transformers 2. By the time Frenchette is told Dillinger's last words (played out in a very spaghetti westernesque manner), my mother and I were exchanging looks of agony, pretending to yawn. Even though the Public Enemies is a better made film than Transformers 2, it does not matter much- especially since I was anticipating the closing credits more than anything else.

2.00/4.00