When is a smart, sophisticated summer movie brimming with history and gravitas a letdown?
When it stars Johnny Depp and Christian Bale and the man behind the camera is Michael Mann.
“Public Enemies” should satiate mature minded movie goers looking for salvation against the tide of mindless blockbusters. It’s a beautifully constructed film, one with seemingly every element locked in for a modern movie classic.
But while Mann (”Heat,” “Collateral”) remains a technical maestro, he still has trouble getting under the skin of his characters.
Who else could film the life story of boxing great Muhammad Ali and leave viewers unsure of what really made Ali tick by the film’s end?
“Public Enemies” tells the fascinating true story behind John Dillinger (Depp), the notorious bank robber from Depression-era Chicago.
The film opens with a bravura sequence featuring Dillinger breaking out of jail along with a few of his partners in crime. Right away, Dillinger’s savvy, his ability to cajole those around him with either his charisma or a Tommy Gun, get firmly established.
Dillinger’s crime spree catches the attention of J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup in the film’s best supporting turn). Hoover hires Melvin Purvis (Bale) to bring said spree to an end.
Meanwhile, Dillinger remains a few paces ahead of Purvis’ small army, finding time between heists to woo a cagey hatcheck girl (Oscar winner Marion Cotillard).
Mann’s film doesn’t tap into the Depression-era zeitgeist as one might expect, or even fear. It’s all surface thrills and gorgeous tracking shots, leaving the viewer detached from the endless gun fights. And there’s little narrative cohesion to the story, leaving an episodic tale with an ending that doesn’t do Dillinger’s anti-hero life justice.
Depp established his career by playing against his physical type - and broadcasting his eccentric inner self to audiences. Here, he plays it maddeningly straight, and it’s one of his least compelling performances.
That’s still better than Bale, who’s given almost nothing to work with and substitutes stoicism for any sense of character. He’s a carbon copy, and a fading one at that, of Kevin Costner’s superior performance as Eliot Ness in “The Untouchables.”
This should have been the Summer of Bale, but from his on-set tirade to two lackluster turns (”Enemies” and “Terminator Salvation”) it’s ending up a season to forget for the gifted actor.
“Public Enemies” remains an intelligent piece of craftsmanship. It’s just not the thoroughly engaging film we were led to expect.
(Photo: Johnny Depp plays famed bank robber John Dillinger in “Public Enemies.”)
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I'm an award-winning journalist and film critic with more than a decade of experience in newspapers, magazines and the Web. I'm a member of both the Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association and the Denver Film Critics Society.
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Isn’t Depp appearing in just too many movies anyway?
It’s a beautifully shot film, but it wasn’t as engaging on a visceral level as I’d been hoping. Bale’s Purvis was no match for Depp’s Dillinger; the sense of building drama was more or less missing, so the ending seemed anti-climactic. It’s still worth watching, though — especially compared to some of this summer’s other stink bombs. Perhaps this movie counts as “close but no cigar”?
PS: I thought exactly the same thing about “The Untouchables” as I was sitting in the theater last night.
It’s a true ‘close but no cigar’ film, MM … but some critics are hailing it as a masterpiece. i think they wanted it to be that … and didn’t see the actual film on the screen.