Public Enemies (2009)

Director: Michael Mann

Cast: James Russo as Walter Dietrich, Marion Cotillard as Billie Frechette, Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, Jason Clarke as John 'Red' Hamilton, Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, John Judd as Turnkey, Stephen Dorff as Homer Van Meter, Michael Vieau as Ed Shouse, John Kishline as Guard Dainard, Wesley Walker as Jim Leslie, John Scherp as Earl Adams, Elena Kenney as Viola Norris, William Nero Jr. as Farm Boy, Channing Tatum as Pretty Boy Floyd, Christian Stolte as Charles Makley

Public Enemies, this film has been built up for quite a while, why not?
It stars Johnny Depp as one of history's most famous bank robbers. Also
the city of Chicago has been excited to see this, in some strange way
we considered Dillinger to be a Robin Hood as he never took money from
the common man, just from the banks. He also was clever enough to
escape jail by making a fake gun out of a soap bar, I lived in Indiana
for a year and people are incredibly proud that Crown Point was where
Dillinger had fooled everyone, lol. So naturally I was really looking
forward to seeing this movie, especially with Johnny Depp as John
Dillinger, it's a can't miss. Unfortunately for me, the film fell short
of our expectations as the way it was made and how there is lack of
material for Depp and Bale to work with to give these characters any
depth. Mann makes a film that is using a digital camera for a film set
in the 1930's and doesn't really bring his A game to the film as it's
more like "Here's Dillinger's story… enjoy".

Set in 1933 John Dillinger is brought to a penitentiary, but is there
to break out the rest of his gang. After loosing a few of his friends,
he's headed to Chicago to make his mark on the banks. Melvin Purvis is
upgraded by J. Edgar Hoover, who is protecting the FBI from scrutiny by
politicians, to lead the hunt for John. John later meets Billie
Frechette, whom he takes to dinner. He states plainly what he will do
for her and how he will treat her if they are to have a relationship.
After a shoot out gone horribly wrong and making the police look more
incompetent, Purvis demands that Hoover bring in professional lawmen
who know how to catch criminals dead or alive. Though Hoover had hoped
for more pristine agents, he agrees. While John and Billie are enjoying
the luxuries across the States, the police finally find Dillinger and
arrest him and his gang in Miami. However, Dillinger and a few inmates
escape from prison using a fake gun. He is goaded into a bank robbery
job by an acquaintance, Dillinger agrees. The robbery goes fine until
Nelson impulsively kills a nearby police officer, alerting more of the
robbery, making Dillinger Public Enemy Number 1.

Now Public Enemies is by no means a bad film, some of the actors were
terrific and the sets were perfect as well as the whole feel of the
film. But it just won't stop with the "Run! Chase! Run! Chase! Shoot!
Shoot!" scenes that seem to dull down after a while. The love story
between Dillinger and his gal, Billie didn't seem too necessary, it
added to the story but for me felt a little out of place at times. I
have to tell you that I'm feeling so incredibly bad for Christian Bale
this year as it seems like he's been given characters who are not well
written, but I'm starting to wonder if the Batman voice is his new
trademark because he was starting to use that voice again in a few
sentences. Depp does the best he can, but once again with the lack of
material; he's made out completely as the hero of the film, instead of
maybe having more of a documentary feel to it and being biased on how
cool Dillinger was. Maybe he's Mann's personal hero, who knows. But
over all the film is decent enough for the watch, I'd just say if you
want to see it, go for a matinée or a rental, it wasn't worth the full
price.

7/10