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Rating: 3 out of 5
If anyone knows me, gangster films are one of my favorite film genres. I just love the Tommy guns and all that stuff. The gangster that I think was the coolest was John Dillinger. I used to watch the 1973 movie called Dillinger starring Warren Oates. I thought that movie was awesome because I remember a scene where he escapes from prison and then walked across the street to rob a bank. Maybe that is wrong because it has been YEARS since I’ve seen that movie. That was my introduction to the film genre. Now, years later, Michael Mann has come along and gives an intense, serious, and true version of the man they labeled Public Enemy #1.
Public Enemies begins in 1933. The infamous bank robber John Dillinger (Depp) has been brought to the Indiana State Prison. Little does anyone know that the person bringing him in is his partner in crime, John “Red” Hamilton (Clarke). The goal is to break out Dillinger’s crew. Inside the prison, several members of Dillinger’s gang: Charles Makley (Stolte), Harry Pierpont (Wenham), Ed Shouse (Vieau), Homer Van Meter (Dorff), and Walter Dietrich (Russo) acquire smuggled guns smuggled and while working a factory shift inside the prison, begin their escape by taking out several guards. Dillinger and his men manage to escape the prison, but Dietrich dies in the escape.
Edgar Hoover, head of the F.B.I., appears before Congress asking for financial help to stop the gangs from running wild. Hoover decides to assign Agent Melvin Purvis (Bale) to stop Dillinger as he just put an end to Pretty Boy Floyd (Tatum). Purvis has built a reputation for bringing down some of the most dangerous gangsters around. With the hunt on, two worlds are about to collide in an all-out war. On one side is a man who is sworn to uphold the law while the other has just been named Public Enemy #1 in the country.
First, for anyone that has seen a Michael Mann film, you will know his style off the bat. This is definitely a Michael Mann film. What I mean by that is he has a way of shooting with the camera. It looks like he uses a handheld camera, but we know he is better than that. The technique he uses definitely shows more in nighttime scenes. There is nothing wrong with his style; it is just different. You see the style more during the shoot out between the F.B.I. and Dillinger’s gang at the house. It makes you feel like you are right in the action. If you need some other examples, then look at Heat, Collateral, and Miami Vice.
Now for the actual movie. I am torn with this movie. I love me some gangster films, and Dillinger was one of my favorites, but the tone of this one was strict and seemed quite real. I would say that the film is about Dillinger robbing banks and his escaping prison, which it is. Still, it doesn’t seem like the classic gangster films that you usually watch. In most of this genre’s films, we seemed to have the loud, over-the-top boss who wants to conquer the world. They are larger than life figures on the screen, or that is how they displayed by Hollywood as with the examples of the following films Tony Montana, Bonnie and Clyde, Al Capone, hell even the Goodfellas. This one has a far more serious tone about the gangster and the people who pursue him. I guess this film wanted to take a far different tone and be more real than anything else.
That is probably the reason I somewhat liked the film. It has a far darker tone with the colors and atmosphere. The aura around Purvis is one that tells he is a rigorous and disciplined man. He is strict and to the point. Dillinger might seem a little wild, but he seems to know how he wants to do things and doesn’t go off the rails. That is how this movie is. It is rigorous and disciplined. The characters are strict, and maybe because it is a life and death situation. I think that is what Mann was going for as he did his research on John Dillinger. Dillinger wasn’t a nice man. The way we saw him in film before is a lie, and Mann wanted to show you what type of person he was. One scene where he robbed the bank and stated he wanted the bank’s money and not the people’s money. Well, the money has to belong to someone, and he sure as hell didn’t give it to the poor like Robin Hood.
Dillinger was known for his bank-robbing and prison escapes. This film brings a tone down version on both of those. The film seems to focus more on his relationship with Billie Frechette (Cotillard). Dillinger seemed to be in love with Frechette and wanted to protect her at all costs. That was his girl, and the film showed it by first him saying she was his girl and second, took extreme care of her when they went out.
Honestly, the most exciting part of this film is with Baby Face Nelson. To me, he was what I was looking for in this film. He was utterly insane and gave ZERO F**KS about anyone. The final shoot out with him and the police was one of the best scenes in the movie.
Johnny Depp was an outstanding Dillinger. He was intense but had that charm that made you want to follow him. He was a leader who looked after his men. If you messed up, you were thrown out of the gang. In the beginning, when one of his crew members got shot, the one who caused it was beaten, shot, and thrown out of the car. Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis was also good. He was a lawman but a strict by the book lawman. You knew he was disciplined because he got his mission and did it with extreme organization. He was very thorough as he was tasked with hunting down most of the country’s biggest criminals.
Is this film one of the best gangster films out there? Naw. It is a true and really good take on one of the most dangerous men on the planet at the time. Depp and Bale are respectable in their roles in this intense film. You can watch other movies about John Dillinger, but this one is the most real and intense of them all.
