Michael Mann’s Public Enemies is chock full of gunfire, misogyny, overly romantic lines and Clark Gable. A sign of the times. The always fantastic Johnny Depp plays legendary bank robber John Dillinger during the Great Depression. Batma… John Conn… Christian Bale stars alongside as Melvin Purvis, the man trying to bring him down. Marion Cotillard plays Depp’s romantic interest in the film and, in my opinion, is the least effective out of the three.
The movie has gunfire. It’s fair share of it in fact. And it’s loud. Very loud. I’m surprised that out of all the summer movies this one seems to be the loudest so far. Bale’s South Carolinian accent is somewhat bothersome as he doesn’t quite pull off at times. Depp is perfectly cast in his role as Dillinger and is the highlight of the movie (is he not always?). The story does move along slowly at times. The movie runs at 143 minutes and there are times where it seems dragged out to fill all of those minutes up. I’m glad Mann didn’t overdo the humor as the two or three spots of laughter are well timed and his use of camera angles and, what seems to be a digital camera at times, makes the movie visually appealing and the shootouts rival those of Mann’s Heat from 1995.
Verdict: 7/10 – Worth the trip but a little on the long side.
poptopia! 