PUBLIC ENEMIES: THE NOT SO FLAMBOYANT JOHN DILLINGER
August 14th 2009 06:24
Johnny Depp stars as John Dillinger in Public Enemies
The story of legendary depression-era gangster John Dillinger would seem tailor made for filmmaker Michael Mann. Guns, banks and girls; charismatic men of deeds versus tenacious men of the law: it’s all stuff that the stylish director/screenwriter is expert in.
It’s a shame then that Public Enemies, the two and a half hour retelling of the legend of John Dillinger, falls so strangely flat. Mann, you can bet, had a good grasp of the source material, and for this production he enlisted the help of many of his usual suspects, chief among them being cinematographer Dante Spinotti, as well as a gilded central cast headed by Johnny Depp as Dillinger and Christian Bale as his FBI nemesis, Melvin Purvis. So why is everything so grey and emotionless in this production?
The film’s protagonist was certainly colourful. Throughout the early 1930s, John Herbert Dillinger and his accomplices carved up the American Midwest, robbing bank after bank and managing numerous prison breaks. Dillinger captured the imagination of the American public, his exploits earning him the respect and admiration of a people who viewed the banks as being responsible for the Great Depression’s economic quagmire.
Public Enemies kicks off with one such daring feat, as Dillinger leads a daring nine-man breakout from Indiana State Prison. Utilising a complex network of syndicate cooperation, the men soon get down to robbing banks, filling their down time with swanky Chicago parties and dinner dates. It’s at one of these soirees that Dillinger meets the fetching Billie (Marion Cotillard), and a whirlwind romance ensues.
But despite becoming something of a celebrity, Dillinger’s days with Billie are perhaps already numbered as a young and ambitious J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) moves to mint his newly born Federal Bureau of Investigation by bringing down the people’s gangster.
Hoover assigns to the case the gentlemanly but quietly determined Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), and the agent’s initial attempts at apprehension are met with alarming resistance, courtesy of maniacal Dillinger associate, Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham). Before long, however, the lawman has enlisted the help of some hardened Western gunmen, and with a combination of subterfuge and raw firepower Purvis sets out to take down John Dillinger once and for all.
It’s a rousing story, almost too perfect to be true, and thrown in on top of the coming showdown is a telling subtext regarding the changing methods of the crime world at the time, with Dillinger and his crew going from being a close associate of power player Frank Nitti to becoming a thorn in the Chicago king’s side as he attempted to move away from violent crime and into the much more lucrative control of gambling and labour unions.
A bank heist goes a little pear-shaped in Public Enemies.
With such a potent story, you’d think Michael Mann would be the perfect choice to take on a film about Dillinger’s life. Indeed, both the general concept and a clutch of specific scenes directly recall the writer/director’s career highpoint, Heat (1995).
But Public Enemies falls over on a fundamental neglect of character. Mann, along with fellow screenwriters Ronan Bennett, Ann Biderman and Mark St. Germain, seem so concerned with telling Dillinger’s story sans glorification that they’ve forgotten to imbue the gangster with any personality at all. It’s a strange tactic given that Heat almost grind to a halt with its fastidious efforts to resolve every minor character arc. Dillinger was known for his flamboyance when faced with both bank tellers and the media, but the version played by Depp is so sanguine that you wouldn’t be surprised if he fell asleep mid-heist.
It’s a problem that contributes to the fizzless nature of Dillinger and Billie’s relationship: there’s simply not enough written into the film to indicate that the two have a strong connection. Purvis is likewise undercooked, with Bale – giving his best and thankfully quietest performance in some time – having to use all his considerable skill to give the lawman any shade at all.
A massive supporting cast also rotates through without having much of an impact, although Stephen Graham does his very best as the livewire Baby Face Nelson, and Stephen Lang turns up his considerable charisma as FBI hired gun, Charles Winstead.
While the film’s character development is largely disappointing, things aren’t necessarily any better in the technical department. Mann and Spinotti’s choice to use digital video was no doubt debated long and hard by the filmmakers, and while it further deglamourises the legend of Dillinger, many would question its suitability for a period piece such as this. Mann’s usual skill with precision gunfights isn’t quite up to the quality of his earlier works either, and it tells given there’s a truckload of them.
Despite all its faults, however, Public Enemies still manages to impress its audience. As good as he is as a director, Mann is perhaps an even better screenwriter, and while he’s come up short on character, he still knows how to work some delicious setups. You always earn access to Mann’s action scenes by sitting through some seat-clamping tension, and it’s no different here. The final scene in particular is excruciatingly taught as the lawmen methodically tighten their grip on Dillinger’s fate.
And that’s the problem with Public Enemies: it’s highly efficient but it lacks heart. The film is easy to watch and often entertaining, but it’s never truly involving. For the entirety of its running time you feel like you’re at an arm’s length from John Dillinger. And while that may be the intention of the filmmakers, it hardly rings true of the real man, who seemed to revel in his common link with the American public, capturing their imagination as he righted the wrongs of the Great Depression, one bank at a time.
Check out the trailer for Public Enemies below:
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Mountain Fog
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
I'll still check it out and going in with lowered expectations might be a good thing.
Comment by Matt Shea
Anyway, the flick is definitely worth checking out and certainly isn't offensive, but I was just left a little disappointed - there's not enough depth to it.