Public Enemies

Public Enemies [2009] (Theatrical)

Michael Mann is one of my favorite directors, his past films are among some of my favorites of all time (Heat, Manhunter, The Insider).  A lot of people will say that his strengths are in reality based crime drama and that is probably a very fair and accurate statement, and it just so happens that this is exactly what Public Enemies is.  Johnny Depp plays John Dillinger the famous, or some would call infamous depression era Bank Robber, who along with George “Baby Face” Nelson and Alvin Karpis terrorized and at the same time polarized the american public, stealing from the very same banks that were taking their houses and farm lands.  Pursued bySpecial Agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), an FBI agent who had previously successfully hunted down and killed Pretty Boy Floyd, and was promoted as head of the Chicago Field Office by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) shortly after the Floyd incident.

All actors involved are performing at the top of their respective games here and I would hope that the voters for the Academy Awards remember this film when it comes times for the Oscar Nominations.  As far as how the film looks, which is a lot of the talking points I’ve been reading about in other reviews, a lot is being made of Mann’s choice to shoot this period film on HD cameras, but that is just Mann’s style.  Even going back to Heat, Mann shot differently from everyone else, and infact ever since Ali Mann has been shooting digitally; and I personally think it looks fantastic, Digital film making brings out details that film cannot, Michael Mann has crafted an intricate portrayal of the 1930’s depression era Mid-West, everything seems to be period correct (I am however not an expert on The Great Depression, so I don’t know how accurate it truly is).  Overall Public Enemies is a highly entertaining and involving cat-and-mouse thriller, that in my opinion ranks up there with Heat as one of Michael Mann’s best films to date.