Sunday, July 05, 2009
A+E, Movies, Reviews

‘Public Enemies’ just another gangster movie

A ShortTakes review

Johnny Depp didn’t have to change his monogram to play John Dillinger in Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies.” What he did change is a near-perfect record of making every character he plays interesting, whether he’s written that way or not.

Seventy-five years after his death, Dillinger’s story gets a big-budget screen treatment at long last—and it lasts too long. If Arthur Penn had never made “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Public Enemies” might seem like a fresh, slightly revisionist compilation of 1930s gangster movie clichés.

Mann and his team obviously put a lot of research into the period (1933-34), but a term paper on the subject would have been as entertaining. Mann devotes far too much time to the period visuals, especially the cars.

The last 14 months of Dillinger’s life are shown in a series of monotonously similar jailbreaks, bank robberies and shootouts. There’s also a romance with coat-check girl Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard). Dillinger’s nemesis, Melvin Purvis, is blandly played by Christian Bale. Most of the supporting characters have no personalities to distinguish them from each other.

Dillinger is single-minded about robbing banks and staying out of prison (he recently served nine years) until he meets Billie. When she worries that John will be captured or killed and says she doesn’t want to be around when it happens, he tells her, “I’m gonna die an old man in your arms” and talks about their ability to travel wherever they want. In fact, he’s planning one last big heist when things go south. Talk about movie clichés! “Public Enemies” is just another gangster flick, only longer, louder and wider. 2 STARS—Steve Warren