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Movie review: Public Enemies 7.25 out of 10
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Public Enemies poster, Universal Pictures
7.25 out of 10
Public Enemies rates a 7.25 out of 10. As usual, this review will be as spoiler-free as possible. There will be no historical comparisons in this review, but instead look at the film by itself. There will also be no comparisons to the book the movie used as source material: "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34." Let’s look at the Good, the Bad, and the Bottom Line.
The Good
Probably the best thing this movie has to offer is some fantastic writing, specifically the dialogue. It’s smart, funny, and really helps develop the characters. Michael Mann directed this film and is also credited as a writer, along with Ronan Bennett and Ann Biderman. This group did a great job giving Johnny Depp (John Dillinger) a lot of great lines. One example can be seen in the trailer when Dillinger is reassuring his girlfriend he says, “We’re too good for ‘em. They ain’t tough enough, smart enough, or fast enough. I hit any bank I want any time. They got to be at every bank…all the time.” That is just one great piece of dialogue in a film full of it.
Equally impressive is how well the set designers did making this an incredibly realistic “period piece.” In other words, the cars, buildings, trains, planes, costumes and everything looked incredibly authentic. It really did feel like we were peering into the 1930s.
Christian Bale did a fine job as agent Melvin Purvis, but honestly didn’t get a whole lot of screen time, and the movie really did downplay his role in catching Dillinger. Instead he hired some “specialists” from the south, which felt an awful lot like The Untouchables. Regardless of how pivotal any of these men were in the real life hunt for Dillinger, the characters were interesting and fun to watch.
The Bad
The main issue here is length. At nearly two and half hours long, you can’t help but get the feeling the film was dragging on and on. There are at least a half dozen scenes that could have easily been cut without hurting the film as a whole. When doing a historical fiction/adaptation for the big screen it is important to pack in enough fact into a short, yet entertaining movie. Usually there are tons of facts and directors and producers are forced to pick which ones make the film. Sometimes people complain there weren’t enough, and other times the filmmakers try to do too much. This movie is an example of the latter. For instance, there were a lot of scenes dedicated to Dillinger falling in love with his girlfriend. Thanks, Hollywood! Take a perfectly good crime action film and shove a love element down our throats. There is no problem having a love angle, as that is an important part of character development. The problem in this case lies with how much time was given to that story arc. It added significantly to the running time of the film.
The only other thing that hurt this movie was the sheer number of characters involved. It got very confusing at times trying to remember if we already met a character, or if he is new, and even what his relevance is to the overall story. With so many characters there was no way to develop them enough for us to know who they were. The filmmakers were operating under the assumption that we knew enough about history to figure things out on our own. That’s a big “no-no” when making a historical adaptation. You have to assume the audience knows nothing and fill them in. This film fell short when it came to this, leaving the audience scratching their heads as many characters went underdeveloped.
The Bottom Line
If you are a crime history buff, Johnny Deep or Christian Bale fan, or like a good period piece then you may want to see this one in the theaters. For the rest of you, there is nothing about the film that can’t be appreciated in your living room in a few months. This isn’t a special effects smorgasbord like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and there is no 3D like Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. So, this may be a good one to save a few bucks of your entertainment budget and wait for the rental.
For another great review check out Denver Film Community Examiner.
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