Thanks for checking out our Public Enemies review. If you’d like to see the video version of our Public Enemies review you can see it at the bottom of this post.
Exactly how much potential can one movie have? A Michael Mann film staring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale about a famous bank robber? Before day one of shooting this movie has the makings of an instant classic. Granted, Mann’s last directorial outing was not his best effort (2006’s Miami Vice), but his previous 5 films in a row were all fantastic (Collateral, Ali, Heat, The Insider, The Last of the Mohicans). Much here to be excited about.
Did Public Enemies live up to its huge potential? Well… no… not really.
THE BASIC IDEA
The synopsis for Public Enemies reads something like this: “In the action-thriller Public Enemies, acclaimed filmmaker Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Academy Award® winner Marion Cotillard in the incredible and true story of legendary Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger (Depp)the charismatic bank robber whose lightning raids made him the number one target of J. Edgar Hoovers fledgling FBI and its top agent, Melvin Purvis (Bale), and a folk hero to much of the downtrodden public. No one could stop Dillinger. No jail could hold him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyonefrom his girlfriend Billie Frechette (Cotillard) to an American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression. But while the adventures of Dillingers ganglater including the sociopathic Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham)thrilled many, Hoover (Billy Crudup) hit on the idea of exploiting the outlaws capture as a way to elevate his Bureau of Investigation into the national police force that became the FBI. He made Dillinger Americas first Public Enemy Number One. Hoover sent in Purvis, the dashing Clark Gable of the FBI. However, Dillinger and his gang outwitted and outgunned Purvis men in wild chases and shootouts. Only after importing a crew of Western ex-lawmen (newly baptized as agents) who were real gunfighters and orchestrating epic betrayals from the infamous Lady in Red to the Chicago crime boss Frank Nittiwere Purvis and the FBI able to close in on Dillinger.”
THE GOOD
It feels like a bit of a cop out to talk about how good Johnny Depp is in a movie, but he’s so good in this project that I just have to bring it up. Depp is fantastic as the lead character John Dillinger. From the first minute he’s on the screen (which is the first minute of the movie) you buy into the character instantly. You forget that you’re looking at Johnhy Depp and only see the outlaw bank robber. He also successfully does what this movie NEEDED to happen… have you as an audience member feel sympathetic, or even cheer for, the “bad guy”. His dialog is spoken with great conviction, he expression and movement never feel out of place and his screen presence is always captivating. A great, and potentially Oscar nomination worthy performance from Depp.
Despite the fact that the trailers for the film offer lots in the “action” department, I really wasn’t expecting much from the film. I was wrong. The action sequences in Public Enemies push everything right to the edge of reality while managing never to cross that line into “Michael Bay” kind of silly over the top action (which is fine for movies like Transformers… but not Public Enemies). Mann has you on the edge of your seat without ever being pulled out of the movie because of some wild unbelievable stunt or over emphasized explosions.
I can’t write this review without mentioning the performance of Stephen Lang who plays agent Charles Winstead in the film. His role is relatively small and he doesn’t have a load of screen time, but dear heavens every single second he’s on the screen he OWNS it… doesn’t matter if Bale or Depp are on the screen too. As a federal agent specially brought in to help hunt Dillinger, he scared the crap out of me. The guy doesn’t even need to SAY anything… his glare alone makes you want to crap your pants. He’s also in the final scene of the movie making it probably one of the most powerful moments of the film.
Doing any sort of period piece brings along the challenge of brining the audience back to that time and emerging them in it. Mann and company do that with incredible detail. Not just the settings or the remarkable costuming (which I’ll be SHOCKED if they don’t get an Oscar nomination for this), but also the dialog and acting. You really felt like you were in the 1930’s, and when that happens the movie has a head start.
THE BAD
I’ve never had to write these words before… but here it goes. I did not like the performance of Christian Bale in this movie. It almost hurts to write that, but it’s true. You can tell from the story and the dialog that his character, FBI Agent Melvin Purvis, was supposed to be a strong company man, but also with some conflict and a hint of doubt. Bale fails in the film to bring any of that to the screen. For the most part Bale comes across as a monotone robot without any sense of inner conflict or emotion. The film was set up in a way to be a stron character conflict sort of story… Bale vs. Depp… but only Depp showed up. Very disappointing, but I’m sure he’ll bounce back. He’s too good of an actor not too.
A few short hours before going to see the screening of Public Enemies, a film critic friend of mine who saw it already said something strange to me. He said “The movie feels like Mann ripping himself off by just remaking Heat“. I don’t know if I’d completely agree with him, but if you’ve seen Heat you can’t deny a lot of the subtext and themes were very similar with Johnny Depp filling in for Robert De Niro and Bale for Pacino. Once I recognized some of the similarities it became a bit of a distraction.
The love story between Depp’s Dillinger and Marion Cotillard’s Billie felt flat and completely lifeless. There was absolutely zero spark or chemistry between the two on screen, and the movie never once makes you feel like any passion existed. Dillinger just sees her and instantly falls madly in love with her and we as the audience are never given anything to believe in it. It just is, and you need to just accept it. That’s fine for some movies, but when is love for this movie is such a motivating factor in several of the things he does, it helps if we can believe in it.
My complaint about the lack of story development for the love interest in the film can really be applied to the movie as a whole. I never felt there was a flow to the story… things just happen, and then the next thing happens and so on and so forth. It felt like a sting of good scenes just thrown together in some random order.
OVERALL
Public Enemies ends up being a good film with a couple of fantastic performances that successfully transports you back to the 1930’s in the world of John Dillinger, but a few lacking performances, a poor story flow and the failure to develop key elements of the story leaves you feeling wanting and wishing the movie had more substance. I still enjoyed it, but it doesn’t live up to it’s huge potential. I give Public Enemies a 6.5 out of 10.
(VIDEO REVIEW COMING LATER TODAY)
Nice review, John. Just got back from seeing the film, and I definitely agree with you for the most part. The lack of “spark” between John and Billie was a real problem for me, as was the somewhat poor flow of the story. However, the terrific action sequences and performances made it extremely enjoyable to watch. Contrary to what most people have said, though, I actually thought that Bale did a terrific job in this film. Yeah, he wasn’t given much to work with in terms of his character, but I thought he did the best with what he had (unlike his performance in Terminator Salvation).
Does (VIDEO REVIEW COMING LATER TODAY) mean that we will never ever see a video review for this review?
So I guess we will never get the video review. I had looked forward to it. Disappointing.
Here’s a question…
Is it worth my money to see this on the big screen???
I agree with Jenny, this is certainly a return to the kind of work Mann produced twenty years ago. It has the understated feel that Manhunter had, which is now seen as something of a cult masterpiece. Although I’m not too sure I liked the digital filming, I wonder whether in years to come this kind of work of Mann’s will be seen as ground breaking, moving the blockbuster movie away from the cosy over produced product of directors such as Spielberg and Scorcese towards a more “real” art of film making.
BTW; none of the complaints -here and elsewhere- would have been shouted loudly if the script was as good as it should have been.
Simple as that. (Don’t confuse ‘simple’ with ‘easy’.)
I really liked Christian Bale in this.
I realise I may be one of very few people in the world who did. I thought he gave a mature, wisely understated performance, showing the gradual emotional breakdown of a quiet man in contrast to the emotional hyperbole that attached itself to Dillinger (though Depp was also very good). His voice is a problem, meaning that he always sounds as if he’s doing a Batman impression now, but he did a pretty good job of working around that.
This felt like a return to the kind of thing Mann was doing so well twenty years ago, before he got sucked into the world of populist blockbusters.
I went yesterday. The movie doesn’t warrant me expending many finger-pokes at the keyboard. Instead, I’ll quote from another viewer’s comments online:
“I thought that there was no story.
There was no character development either.
I felt like all of the main characters were interchangeable.
All Johnny Depp and Christian Bale did was stare pensively and occasionally smirk.
And I didn’t care at all about the relationship between Dillinger and Billie. It seemed so superficial and absolutely nothing was built on it (except that they both cry for each other sometimes)”
End result for me: worth missing.
Score: 6/10
Depp was great and for me it was kind of a breath of fresh air to see him take on a more serious role because for me at least when I think Johnny Depp I think of him playing more eccentric out there kind of roles. If he can get a best actor nomination for Jack Sparrow then he can certainly get one for his take on John Dillinger. I had said that this movie could be this generations Bonnie and Clyde but I really don’t see that happening.
As for Christian Bale I’m sorry but he’s slowly but surely becoming an overrated actor due to the fact that for me he hasn’t made a movie that I’ve enjoyed him in since American Psycho, but The Machinist is soon coming from Netflix so maybe that will change my opinion.
Did you all notice the look Bale makes every time Dillinger was able to get away from him? It was this really annoying “I Fucked Up” look.
Maria what’s her face was alright in this one but no way will she get nominated and if she does it’ll be a bigger shock then when she beat out my crush Ellen Page for best Female Actress.
Costumes, soundtrack, and the gun fights were amazing but still I don’t see it becoming this generations Bonnie and Clyde and I blame Bale for that.
I actually liked Marion Cotillard a lot in the film. I also thought she deserved her Oscar for La Vie en rosea few years ago. If there happens to be few supporting actress roles worthy in this year, I also expect a few eyes to be on her performance.
I didn’t mind Bale’s “I messed up” look; but it’s not as great as the introduction of Stephen Lang. When we first see the Charles Winstead character, he’s got this pissed off look getting off the train, like you just raped his mother and now he’s going to kill you, your family, and the pet dog. Then he is more pissed when he doesn’t have time for a quick shoe shine. He pays for the shine anyway. Pissed off, but with class. When the character is onscreen, his suggestions are sound and reasonable. He’s always overruled or second guessed by Purvis (good contrast) and it’s clear his role there is to make Purvis task force ‘look good’, but the character has a professional manner about him.
The combination of this character on the young FBI side and the main character Dillinger on the other, overshdows the character of Purvis, thus, Bale is not just playing a character who is idealistic but inept; the actor himself comes across the same way. Bale’s Purvis may not be at the scene of any bank heist, but it seems every scene Bale is in, some other actor “heists” the scene from him. Hell, even Channing Tatum’s four minutes steals from Bale. Of course, that’s a death scene…what’cha gonna do?
I would give it a 7.1
i fell asleep two times…I wish i would have seen Transformers 2 instead. Slow and uneventful.
You’ll fall asleep during Transformers 2 too.
You’ll fall asleep during Transformers as well.
well at least we have Bruno to look forward to
No, actually I think Bruno looks retarded and not funny.
I got Harry Potter to look forward to.
i agree with the other poster. Bale’s performance was very understated and great. I felt the insecurity in him. The disappointment he got from not hearing Dillinger’s last words. The cowardice he felt after shooting him in the back of his head. It all read across his face.
I felt that the pacing of the movie didn’t work. It just felt slow and kind of kept me from enjoying it more. I mean it probably didn’t help that from both the History Channel and history classes that I knew what was going to happen next. I haven’t had that issue with other movies, like LOTR, but that was my impression walking out of the theater
And also, I have to disagree that Ali was “fantastic”. I was Hugely disappointed in it and almost walked out
I wasn’t entirely disappointed in it; I can see where the HD cinematography was slightly distracting early on. As the film got past the first half it seemed to vanish. It should be noted Mann also had Vice in HD a few years ago.
I didn’t have any problem with pacing (although when Dillinger joined up with Babyface Nelson on the out of control heist it was BAM-!!! WAKE UP!! It made me think I missed a scene)
As for the History Channel, having that knowledge didn’t hurt my viewing of the film; it would have if was like 21 from last year where such documentaries are in depth and informative and when the film version comes out, they re-write history.
****
You are, by the way, correct about Ali. I actually thought that film was brilliant for the first half (the friendship between Ali and Malcom X) and going through the motions by the last third.
Follow up:
That’s not to say Public Enemies re-writes a little history for dramatic effect (historically, Nelson dies after Dillinger, not before)
You and I are completely on the same page about this one sir. The relationship between Dillingr and Billie is not earned, it just happens. So how can we care if they stay together?
There are so many characters in the film like Dillinger’s gang, none of whom are given enough time to stand out or matter and I couldn’t tell them apart.
What we’re left with is a nice looking film, some superb gun fights (par for the course for Michael Mann) and one or two good scenes towards the end. A big dissapointment for me.
I don’t see what the problem with Digital is to be honest. You can make out things more clearly, and some of the shots during the night and in the train station were beautiful in my opinion.
Now the problem I had was the hand held camera when Dilinger started to court Billie, I couldn’t stand that at all.
Eh. I typically agree with your reviews but I LOVED this movie. The period, clothing, and set pieces, the plot was enthralling, the acting was superb, and it had one of the best damn gunfights ive seen in a movie since… well… HEAT. It wasnt perfect but it was probably one of the better movies Ive seen this year and the ONLY one I didnt walk out of disapointed.
I would give it a 7…Depp was amazing and I understand that Bale was playing a “failure”…..so with both actors in frame, Depp wins the argument. ( and Bale used the same Yuma accent). However the HD was good for a period piece and which was pointed out by Ezell they lit the film like a period piece so the HD worked, and BS to the comments about the hand held! It was the editing that worked well with hand held and closeups and action. It was a bit long, but if you know about the history of some of the characters…and the FBI and how Hoover was to be feared in Washington in the future, I think Mann did a good job of showing the early wire taps and his fight with Congress to set up Hoover as such a basterd! I mean this guy eventually had “dirt” on EVERYONE. I am really appreciating Depp and his craft.
My favorite part of the film, perhaps the only part I enjoyed (I didn’t enjoy it 10 minutes into it) was when Bale and Depp have that little face off at the prison
Haven’t seen this and prolly won’t until it’s released on DVD,but I have to say that Christian Bale needs to chill out and not be in every frickin movie ever made. I really do like Bale and obviously I’m not bashing him because, like I said, I haven’t even seen it. But does he think he’s Michael Cain or what? I just don’t want him to end up like Jude Law and just be totally overexposed. Oh, and please, for the love of Batman,lose the growl. That’s the one thing I disliked about Dark Knight. His voice – so frickin annoying.
Last two performances he’s turned in have been bad.
How’s he in every movie ever made? He only recently appeared in Public Enemies, is set to film The Fighter and is still only in talks for Killing Pablo. Hardly every film being released.
Plus, I don’t think his last two performances have been “bad” in any sense of the word, just not up to expectations.
Also, I think the Batman voice is fine.
I thought that one of the bright spots of the movie, albeit a small one, was Babyface. I think he was well cast and played the part to the T. Although the movie wasnt great I do agree that Depp put on a great performance. Hopefully this year he will finally get the gold statue.
That was Tommy from Snatch? Wow
“Once I recognized some of the similarities it because a bit of a distraction.”
This sentance is awkward. Did you mean “caused” instead of “because”?
The strange thing is, many of the reviews I have read on this film say Depp’s choice to play Dillinger with a self aware kind of cool was a bad one. I haven’t seen it, but it sounds like you disagree with that statement.
sounds about right. i had a couple of friends who saw it. one said it was ok, the other said it was great, and the other hated it. ill probebly check it out this week
As for the camera work, I like the fact that it’s not completely “clean” like it is now in most of the movies produced by Hollywood.
I love Transformers as a great entertaining movie with brillant shots, brillant SFX and neat picture. I think Michael Bay is kind of a genius for doing that. But this is pure entertainment.
Public Enemies has different artistic ambitions and I liked the raw touch of the picture and camera work. It’s actually similar to what he did in other movies by the way : remember the final action sequence in Miami Vice.
Let me take the defense of Mr. Bale who mysteriously gets bad reviews since the phenomenal success of The Dark Knight, especially from people who claim to be “hurt” to write this. ;-)
QUOTE from the review :
“FBI Agent Melvin Purvis, was supposed to be a strong company man, but also with some conflict and a hint of doubt.”
That’s precisely what Bale succeeded so well to do. His interpretation in this movie is very sober, very deep, just expressive enough without getting gushy. He is that kind of actor with such an interlalized acting that he doesn’t need to do too much for you as a spectator to understand the exact emotions he wants to express. And these emotions always sound accurate, especially with great directors such as Michael Mann who know exactly what they want from their actors (not like McG, I guess).
QUOTE :
“For the most part Bale comes across as a monotone robot without any sense of inner conflict or emotion”
If you weren’t dragged into the movie, it’s possible that you missed the whole thing. His performance just right and I could really feel the internal conflicts of his character growing during the whole movie.
Before seeing PE, I myself had more fear about Mr. Depp, who was getting worse and worse in his last movies, with so much self-satisfaction. But I’m relieved now, the Johnny Depp I used to like so much a few years ago seems to be back! Maybe he needed a guy like Mr. Mann to get more humble. His performance is great as Dillinger. I almost forgive him to have literally snubbed the French Press last week when he came to Paris, hehe…
Really, the acting is one of the strong points of the movie : Depp, Bale and Cotillard are just brillant, as well as all the secondary actors by the way.
Has anyone else noticed, that Bale’s performance seems to get worse? Since The Machinist, he just seems to loose focus and either overact or be stonefaced. I really want to keep my faith in him, but it just gets harder. I first noticed it in Rescue Dawn, in the beginning he’s running in the jungle and he just seems like a total amateur. Maybe he just needs the right director, but maybe he should take a break and get some fire back… I miss him!
Like John said, he’s a talented and dedicated guy and he’ll no doubt bounce back.
I hated this movie. Hated. I actually contemplated walking out… which Campea can tell you, is way out of character for me at the movies.
All the characters, even Depp to a degree, didn’t do anything for me. I can usually lose myself quite easily in the theater, but the cinematography, performances and sound (oddly), totally took me out of the experience.
I never thought I’d find myself using THESE words: I agree with Kristina.
Muahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
The Cinematography felt amateur but I thought the film was bad ass.
Speaking of the digital. I liked it in all the well lit daytime scenes. It had a very “home-movie” look to it, like the camera guy from Cloverfield was shooting it. But it was REALLY bad in the low lit scenes, the “noise” was something that apparently even professionals can’t get rid of in digital format shooting.
they used very soft lighting to give it a old fashion style.
And the digital SUCKED in this film. SUCKED. WHY did Mann shoot this in friggin’ DIGITAL????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m a bit surprised, John, that you have this line:
The action sequences in Public Enemies push everything right to the edge of reality while managing never to cross that line into “Michael Bay” kind of silly over the top action
As a longtime fan of the director, for even the action that is stylish, Mann – even in the recent Miami Vice (which I didn’t think was a letdown at all) never uses rapid cutting, “shaky cam”, always gives the feel of location, distance and space. Even in moments of mayhem, the audience can always follow the action.
I have yet to see the film (the July 4 weekend was taking up a chunk of time, not that its a bad thing) but I have been hearing great things about Depp.
The mention of Stephen Lang, John….he’s always been underrated as a character actor. One thing to note is that he worked with Mann before, 1986’s Manhunter and the short lived TV series Crime Story. Oh, Crime Story!!! I freaking loved that show.
My thoughts will be more detailed in 24hrs or less…
I agree. It was quite meh.
I thought it was really good, but not great too. Although I thought that all the acting was top notch and Bale, whom I thought did a good job too didn’t have much personality but I don’t think that’s his fault though.
Billy Crudup was really good as Hoover also.
Yeah, I can’t really blame him if the script requires him to act a certain way.
Besides, the movie was far more focused on Depp’s character and I believe that a better balance between Depp and Bale’s characters would have been better.
no ice age review?
i’m glad John didn’t see it. It sucked
6.5? Really? I’m seeing it sometime this week or next weekend. Depends on what day I can get a chance to go.
I would give it a 8.
I gave it a 5 out of 10, it was kind of ehh
I was interested in this a while ago, but after seeing the trailer it turned me right off – it looks like it was shot on video (which it was), but surely they could have done a better job on the cinematography.
I really enjoyed the look of the film personally… It made the movie have more of a real feel to me.
I felt that alot of the camera work really pulled me out of the movie. At least 10 times the camera work and how it was handled pulled me out of the movie.
Did you notice that?
Also I was incredibly bored through most of the movie and felt myself not caring about any of the characters in the movie except John Dillinger. And I didn’t like the ending and how he ended up. He should have at least fired once, why did he have a gun with him if he wasn’t gunna use it?
I felt that alot of the camera work really pulled me out of the movie. At least 10 times the camera work and how it was handled pulled me out of the movie.
Did you notice that?
Also I was incredibly bored through most of the movie and felt myself not caring about any of the characters in the movie except John Dillinger.
Is that Depp at the poster?? What the hell did they do to his face?
They spliced him with John Cusack.
watch it and the people who play in the move act really serious.like johnny deep being in funnny movies
I just read through every comment in this thread… and the first (and second) are the best. ELL EM AY OH.