He Said, She Said: Public Enemies
By Caroline Thibodeaux
July 7, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Last week the Big Daddy and I watched the new Michael Mann movie Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp as bank robber John Dillinger. Set in 1933, the story covers the last year or so in the life and career of this uniquely American combination of folk anti-hero and sociopath. The screenplay is adapted by Mann with Ronan Bennett and Ann Biderman from Bryan Burrough's non-fiction book Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34. It examines how Dillinger and his contemporaries Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson were literally mowed down on the way to their own obsolescence. As the reigning Public Enemy Number One, Dillinger's journey is a distinct parallel opposite to the rise of the Federal Bureau of Investigation as that organization begins to apply the scientific method to modern crime-fighting techniques. Everything signifies and forecasts Dillinger's end – including the ways that big time crime operations were beginning to evolve. The day of the dashing, celebrated bank robber escaping with a bag of loot while dazzling the pretty girls he takes hostage was quickly disappearing and going the way of the relic.
This film has an awful lot going for it. It's a gangster movie with a remarkable pedigree. Michael Mann is one of those directors who I can always appreciate even when I'm not particularly fond of his films (Ali, Miami Vice). I truly enjoyed all of the meticulous detail and craftsmanship involved in Public Enemies. Shot in gorgeous hi-definition digital, it's a beautiful film to behold. But in the end there was something missing in terms of dramatic tension. It has a leisurely pace and it takes its time setting up the action. This drama is definitely a welcome change in a summer movie season filled with the umpteenth sequels to robots, terminators and comic book hero flicks. But I kept waiting for a moment where the film would kick into a third or fourth gear and never look back upon the arc of its own exhilaration. I admit this may be a fault of my own expectations, but whenever the tempo seemed to really get moving, Mann would bring the film back to a more sedate and contemplative state. It's an opportunity for Dillinger to look back on his life and plan his next move, I guess, but it also seems like a squandered opportunity for Mann to bring the audience along completely.
Oscar-nominated Director of Photography Dante Spinotti - a Mann stalwart – choreographs a fascinating dance between foreground and background in every frame. He creates a dioramic effect which enables the modern audience to peer through a Depression-era multidimensional picture book of slate grays, blues and warm golds. The visual textures soak through the screen. Dressing Johnny Depp for the fifth time is two-time Oscar winner Colleen Atwood. Her stunning period costume design surpasses her usual standard of excellence. These clothes are characters – one overcoat even serving ably as a plot device. The intermittent score by Elliot Goldenthal is an anachronistic mélange informed by indigenous American music. The sumptuous soundtrack is peppered with classic Billie Holliday standards and the bluesy banjo strummings of Otis Taylor.
After nearly a decade of playing mincing, androgynous fops and Burtonesque man-child freaks, it's a refreshing pleasure to see Johnny Depp play an honest-to-goodness real man again. He still runs like a girl, as witnessed in the scene set at the Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin – the actual historical site of a shootout between Dillinger's gang and the Bureau of Investigation. But other than that there is no sign of the poncey Captain Jack Sparrow or the Does He or Doesn't He Willy Wonka. He lets you in on Dillinger's swagger and charm, showing how the enjoyment of his own '30s era celebrity contributes to his downfall. You almost believe at times that Dillinger wants to get caught so that he'll have the opportunity to openly take pleasure in the macabre zeitgeist of his own mythos. At the same time Depp never shies away from characterizing this cold-blooded killer at a crossroads. Depp has a scene where he lays it all on the line in pursuit of coat check girl Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard). In those scant, swooning seconds Depp not only persuades her to go with him, but he reminds everyone how and why he is matinee idol and a movie star.
Oscar winner Cotillard (La Vie En Rose) is perfectly serviceable as Dillinger's sweetheart and moll Billie. It's not the most thoroughly fleshed-out character to play, but she's always adorably winning and her visage practically pops of the screen. Armed and attired with nothing but those eyes, that smile and a three dollar dress, it's obvious why Dillinger couldn't keep his eyes off her. I couldn't either.
There is some good supporting work that should be mentioned as well. Billy Crudup's J. Edgar Hoover is so oddly quirked and tightly wound that you just know he's got to go home and put on a dress in order to feel like a human being again. Brotherhood's Jason Clarke plays Dillinger's right-hand man Red Hamilton and has a superb moment with Depp in the third act. That scene could have well served as a combination epiphany and retirement party send off not just for Dillinger, but for his entire class of criminal.
I was disappointed with Christian Bale's performance as Melvin Purvis, the man hand picked by Hoover to head the Public Enemies Task Force. Bale's somnambulistic performance hides behind the Southern drawl he's affected and never really offers anything up about Purvis. That's three performances in a row now by Bale from which I've come away unimpressed. That includes this film, Terminator Salvation and The Dark Knight. I know for certain there is a fine actor in there as evidenced by earlier work, but I'm wondering if his characterizations of late are somehow being weighed down by the size and scope of these films and their set pieces. It may be as simple as he cannot shine when playing upstanding good guys, no matter how compromised their values and however much they may be flawed. Bale may want to next consider a small character-driven film or something where he can at least crack a smile or a joke from time to time. He's sounding the death knell for his own tenure atop the A-List by becoming boring.
Bale's lackluster performance parallels the biggest problem with Public Enemies. I don't have an issue with an adult drama that takes its time, but there needs to be adequate payoff now and then to carry interest over. The film is never tedious, but it is sometimes a bit anesthetized. Dillinger approaches his occupation with an everyday workmanlike attitude. In theory, that could be seen as admirable, but on film it makes planning a bank heist seem as thrilling as formatting a spreadsheet. I kept waiting for an adrenaline-fueled high to accompany any one of his misadventures. This moment is never fully realized. It should all add up to a great movie but it just doesn't. The combined talents of the aforementioned greats cannot seem to overcome innate problems with plotting and pacing. It's pretty; it sounds great and for the most part, is well-acted. In the end, there's too much good stuff in Public Enemies to denounce it absolutely. Even though it has its problems, it's still a well-made, thoughtful study of the American criminal underworld at a nexus. It's definitely worth a look, but it should be worth so much more than that.