Johnny Depp has got it down right as real-life big time gangster John Dillinger, Public Enemy No. 1. Public Enemies is an action crime drama about Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd and other gangsters in the 1930s. Christian Bale also stars as top FBI agent Melvin Purvis, the agent who brought all of these bad boys down.
The film cross cuts between the view points of the gangsters, led by Dillinger, and the FBI agents tracking them down, led by Purvis who answers to J. Edgar Hoover. While no special cinematic achievement, Public Enemies delivers entertainment and the thrills.
Mostly historically accurate, Public Enemies opens with Dillinger breaking his buddies out of jail, and then going on a bank robbery tirade across the Midwest. Fresh from his successful hunt for Pretty Boy Floyd, Purvis is ordered by Hoover to gather a team of FBI agents and bring in Dillinger dead or alive. Meanwhile, Dillinger hooks up with the beautiful Billie Frechette, played by Marion Cottilard, and the notorious Baby Face Nelson. The result is the gangsters always outrunning and outgunning the FBI in a series of well-done shootouts, but Dillinger soon realizes that he can’t keep on running away forever.
The film doesn’t leave that much of an emotional impact, and is also a little overlong at 2 hours and 20 minutes. Still, it’s more than just one big long chase scene, and with enough action gunfights to please movie viewers, while not over doing it, Public Enemies is more than just a passable gangster flick.
Depp gives the best performance in the movie. Seeing him as Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, I couldn’t imagine him that much as a gangster. Simply put, he nailed it. Bale’s performance wasn’t overly flawed, but he revealed more about his character in the Batman series and 3:10 to Yuma. Bale seemed like a quiet taciturn man rather than an outgoing FBI agent.
Under the direction of Michael Mann, Public Enemies gave us the entertainment. Depp undoubtedly took the spotlight. Condensed down, Public Enemies was a good though not memorable gangster flick.
*** ½/5
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