Public Enemies is definitely a Michael Mann film. Every shot [every shot selection] is beautifully composed and designed to pull the audience through the story. The production design, set design, costuming – all are amazing. Marion Cotillard makes Billy Frechette, John Dillinger’s last girlfriend, an engaging character with whom we can empathize. And that it!

For a film that moves along as briskly as Public enemies, it seems to be otherwise bereft of heart. Johnny Depp’s performance as the PR savvy bank robber, John Dillinger, is so introspective that it’s hard to believe that he could charm Frechette, let alone the press. Christian Bale’s Special Agent Melvin Purvis is even relatable than Depp’s Dillinger. I guess we’re supposed to figure out his distaste for some the tactics that were used to make associates of Dillinger to talk by his infinitesimally deeper squint.

This is not to say that Depp and Bale are giving minimalist performances, or anything. Just that Bill Murray was more emotionally available in Broken Flowers. The rest of the cast fare about as well, too. Billy Crudup’s J. Edgar Hoover is an oily seller of fraudulent tonics and potions. We didn’t know until after his death just how strange and warped Hoover was – Crudup plays him as if we did.

It’s kind of sad that a director can do all the appropriate research and talk about how Depp’s last steps from the Biograph Theater are those of Dillinger; that he fell where Dillinger fell – just as, throughout the movie, Depp was in Dillinger’s hotel rooms, drove the routes Dillinger drove, and so forth – and yet, in striving for such accuracy, he delivers a film that has no soul, apart from Cotillard’s riveting performance.

Final Grade: D+

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 4:25 pm and is filed under Movie Reviews, Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.