Michael Mann’s  Miami Vice was certainly stylish, but the horribly convoluted plot and bland characterisations made it about as appealing as Colin Farrell’s mullet. In Public Enemies, Mann makes his apology by enlisting charismatic heartthrob Johnny Depp to portray notorious American bank robber John Dillinger.  Whilst Depp sure does make up for Farrell’s mullet,  it’s clear that Mann has yet to renounce all his other vices. He still  under-develops his characters and has a nonsensical love for digital cinematography, causing this two-and-a -half-hour game of cat and mouse to lose momentum faster than a contestant on The Biggest Loser.

Don’t be blaming the source material; John Dillinger’s bank robbing, jail breaking escapades of the 1930s has all the ingredients of a great film. Yet Michael Mann’s Public Enemies makes a conscious effort to strip Dillinger’s story of all its bravado, leaving it up to understated charisma of leading man Johnny Depp to remind us that we’re supposed to be having fun.

Dillinger is essentially Robin Hood with a Tommy gun; “We’re here for the bank’s money, not yours”, he nobly tells a customer anxiously emptying his wallet during a heist. The general public adores him, but according to FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), he’s Public Enemy no.1 and needs to be brought to justice. Purvis continually finds himself one step behind Dillinger until the crafty crook makes the mistake of falling head over heels for his cloak-checking girlfriend Billie (Marion Cotillard), asking her to run away with him and be his gal. Billie eventually concedes, but her initial response is “I don’t know anything about you!”

She makes a good point. For a two and a half hour film about John Dillinger, we learn surprisingly little about him.  Despite Depp’s commanding presence, the screenplay does him no favours by choosing not to divulge Dillinger’s back story or provide any idea as to his motives. The supporting characters are just as underdeveloped; Christian Bale’s Melvin Pervis only goal in life appears to be catching Dillinger, making him about as one-dimensional as Wile E. Coyote. Then there’s Marion Cotillard as Billie, whom despite one terrific interrogation scene with a stand-out Christian Stolte, is treated more like a plot device than anything else.

Even the faithfully recreated 1930′s setting is fraught by Mann’s continued obsession with digital camerawork, which takes away the cinematic flair of the era. Sure, digital might provide the film with a raw and gritty look, but Public Enemies tends to look more like an amateur home video than a hundred million dollar Hollywood production. The only time it does pay off is during the film’s genuinely tense climax, where the extra definition during the slow motion scenes has a striking hyperrealistic quality.

But for the rest of the Public Enemies, the choice of digital tends to only exacerbate the films many flaws. It even reveals the imperfections of Johnny Depp’s face. Who wants to see that?

Verdict:
For those who prefer a side of character and plot development with their muzzle flashes, don’t bother befriending Public Enemies.

-Originally published July 8th, 2009.

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