Public Enemies
Directed by: Michael Mann
Universal; 2009
Public Enemies tells the story of legendary bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), as seen through the stark and professional lens of director Michael Mann, he of the bank robber masterpiece Heat. What sounds like a perfect match-up and return to greatness for Mann after 2006’s lackluster Miami Vice ends up being another disappointment, albeit for completely different reasons.
The film opens strong with the first of Dillinger’s two career jailbreaks, and wastes little time before he hits another bank. His love interest, Billie (Marion Cotillard) and opponent, Agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) are also quickly established, but what follows is a disappointing lack of tension in the Purvis/Dillinger cat-and-mouse game; the film simply meanders from jailbreak to robbery to getaway to shootout and back again without ever properly conveying a sense of anxiety. A major factor in this is Bale, turning in yet another flat and unassuming performance this summer as Purvis. To be fair, he has little to work with. Little time is devoted to explaining what drives Purvis – in fact, the only explanation the film offers is that he was thrust into the role by J. Edgar Hoover (a terrific Billy Crudup) as part of a PR campaign to form what is now the FBI. There is no personal connection established between Purvis and Dillinger that raises the stakes of the game, and as a result, we can’t invest in them.
However, Depp is excellent, portraying Dillinger as confident yet needing the approval and love of the public, as evidenced in scenes where he mugs for interviews and cameras upon his arrest. There’s a memorable scene where Dillinger sits in a movie theatre as an advertisement shows his mugshot and asks patrons to look to their left and right, because “he could be sitting next to you!” All heads but Depp’s turn, as he sits with a sly smile on his face. This confidence is eventually taken too far in a silly scene where Dillinger strolls into the Chicago PD’s Dillinger Task Force office, perusing a lifetime of evidence and photos without anyone recognizing him, never mind asking what a stranger is doing in the middle of a police station. His romance with Billie also rings false; as it is between Dillinger and Purvis, there’s no connection between their romance. Although well-acted by Cotillard, she swings wildly between angry belief that Dillinger will be caught or killed and fierce devotion to him, with only his reassurances to calm her (which, most of the time, are proved wrong).
Mann can’t be faulted for exploring new avenues of cinema, and his experiments with high definition cameras largely paid off stylistically in his last two films, Collateral and Miami Vice. The hyper-realism these cameras lend provides a documentary feel, augmented by the fact that much of it is shot handheld. But it proves to be Public Enemies undoing. While it certainly wouldn’t have looked better through a hand-cranked camera, to film a period piece set in 1933 using a piece of technology only recently invented is a contrast that leaves the viewer cold and removed from the entire film. It doesn’t help that many of the scenes look unfinished and are buzzing with grain (especially in what is arguably the most exciting scene, a nighttime cabin shoot-out), so much so that the footage that made it onscreen looks more suited to a behind-the-scenes featurette. The final scenes of Dillinger’s fateful end in particular look unbelievably amateur, made even more jarring with the addition of some obvious CG effects. Rather than transporting the audience back in time, the overwhelming feeling is that you’re simply watching men and women in old costumes. Perhaps most frustrating is that Eliot Goldenthal’s score at times evokes classic cinema with its exaggerated orchestral swells, adding further discord between the old and new.
Mann still knows how to direct a shootout, though. Guns in Mann films always sound terrifyingly realistic, augmented by the lack of soundtrack and stock sound effects, and the frequent use of tommyguns here is thrilling. At times the camera appears to be sitting on an actor’s shoulder, looking down the barrel of the gun they’re firing. It’s just too bad that everything in between these scenes isn’t terribly interesting.
