A Better Class of Criminal
Written: Jul 06 '09 (Updated Dec 21 '09)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Michael Mann, Johnny Depp, Christian Bale at their best
Cons: Good deal of historical inaccuracy
The Bottom Line: This is the best movie to be based on historical gangsters since Brian de Palma's "The Untouchables" (1987). Go see it on the big screen.
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| thewasp's Full Review: Public Enemies |
This film will inevitably be compared to "Heat" and "Miami Vice" since both of those were by the same director, were also cops vs. robbers, and featured a lot of shooting. Of the three films, "Miami Vice" is the most unbelievable, "Heat" is the most groundbreaking, but I think "Public Enemies" has the best acting and script. The main character in "Heat" (Neil Macauley, played by Robert de Niro) insisted that he would never have anything or anyone in his life that he couldn't walk out on in 30 seconds "when you see the heat coming around the corner." This is emphatically not true of John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), who risks his life to spend time with his girlfriend (Marion Cotillard) and almost gets into a suicidal gunfight with FBI agents when they apprehend her.
While Depp may not win the Oscar, this is an Oscar-caliber performance and I would be very surprised if he were not nominated. He makes Dillinger's emotions vault into the audience through the screen like Dillinger himself vaulting over a bank counter. Almost as compelling is Christian Bale playing Melvin Purvis, a young G-Man who stands up to J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) himself when Hoover doesn't want to hear his bad news.
Osama bin Laden is still Public Enemy Number One after almost eight years; but one senses that capturing Dillinger was even more important to the infant Bureau, that this truly was a death struggle between two American institutions. The country wasn't big enough for both of them, and Hoover was on the ropes; he couldn't yet tell recalcitrant congressmen, "I investigate all sorts of people," and have them know what he meant. This is why Purvis, or at least some of his men, go considerably farther than they intended to after Purvis demands and gets men who know more about guns and tactical control of a situation than the Bureau's Chicago investigators. The FBI is shown torturing two associates of Dillinger's, one of whom is his girlfriend.
The revelation of the latter incident outrages Purvis and his steady inner circle, all men brought up from the southern plains of the US; but by now, nothing can surprise him. Hoover basically ordered him to do this, invoking in so many words Mussolini's Italy. The film also explores how torture degrades its perpetrators as much or more than the victims and with the possible exception of Hoover himself the FBI agent who takes pleasure in torturing both of Dillinger's associates (and is the first one to draw his gun in the final gunfight) is clearly the most odious character in the film.
Rare is the action sequence that can make a movie by itself, but this is the Holy Grail that Mann has been seeking at least since "Heat." While the film features two jailbreaks, three bank robberies, and four shootouts between the FBI and bank robbers, to me the best action sequence in it is the last bank robbery. This sequence is really just one more example of how important public opinion was to Dillinger's career. When it was with him, he could do anything, and he kept it with him as long as he possibly could, turning down a potentially lucrative kidnapping job because "the public doesn't like kidnapping." When it was against him, he slowly metamorphosed into a cornered animal, although somehow keeping slightly more dignity.
Dillinger's terminal decline begins with the robbery, undertaken jointly with Babyface Nelson, of a bank in Sioux Falls, Iowa. Here, Dillinger discovers what Nelson is too far around the bend to realize; once people's sense of security, of honor, is pushed past a certain point, they no longer care that you have hostages. Not just the police but a random cross-section of the people of Sioux Falls pour a torrent of lead on Dillinger, Nelson, and their hostages and associates. It seems everyone is going to be killed, but somehow none of the gangsters is killed at the scene. Although one has to be left there, the others escape to Wisconsin, where that very night they are in another gunfight -- and are not as fortunate, only Dillinger escaping with his life.
Crime is Dillinger's passion, but it is Frank Nitti and the syndicate's business, and they figure out after the second jailbreak that Dillinger is bad for business. While some of the people may still love him, another segment of public opinion is strong enough to override the bribes they are paying the Chicago police and force a crackdown. To Dillinger, Nitti is a failed barber; to Nitti, Dillinger is a potential career ender. The changing relationship between Dillinger and the mob is yet another fascinating sidelight of this film.
But of course, the most compelling relationship in the movie is that between Dillinger and Billie Frechette (Cotillard). The story becomes Wagnerian when it becomes clear that despite having gone out on the town with two other women (where have you been, Leelee Sobieski?) Dillinger was faithful to Frechette until death, and Frechette to him even under torture. Nothing else in the movie made me envy John Dillinger, but this did.
The precise details of the history of this death struggle have been switched around a bit, but remain far less exaggerated, and therefore more compelling, than in a film like The Dark Knight. I unhesitatingly give "Public Enemies" the highest rating the epinions system allows.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing
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Epinions.com ID:
thewasp
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Member: Jason Galbraith
Location: Little Elm, Texas
Reviews written: 371
Trusted by: 62 members
About Me:
I am now a legal assistant working at a nonprofit which helps battered women.
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