ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

DIRECTOR Michael Mann has a special talent for tales of crime and punishment. His notable films include Heat, Manhunter and Collateral. In Public Enemies, he focuses on the life and crimes of John Dillinger, the daredevil bank robber who became something of a folk hero in the darkest years of the great Depression.

The result is a stylish epic that may be a little too chilly and reflective for those audiences expecting an all-action gangster movie.

The Dillinger (Johnny Depp) of Public Enemies is a man who loves the thrill of robbing banks and lives for the moment. It is fellow gangster Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribisi) who warns him that he cannot cheat death or capture indefinitely.

J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) has committed himself to a war on organised crime and appoints agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) to run the Chicago office of the FBI and bring Dillinger to justice. Purvis is a stoical public servant, his stern personality a stark contrast to the swagger of Dillinger and his girlfriend Frechette (Marion Cotillard). They are on a collision course that can only end in death.

Public Enemies is an intelligent and absorbing dramatisation of front page events from the 1930s. Mann seems more enamoured of the swanky set design and striking locations than the poverty and quiet despair that defined the American nation of the period.

The performances eschew flamboyance for an understated naturalism, although there is noteworthy work from Britain’s Stephen Graham as Baby Face Nelson and Billy Crudup as Hoover.

Ultimately, the film lacks the grandeur and majesty of The Godfather or Michael Mann’s own Heat, but it is still in a different league from the bulk of American blockbusters being released this Summer.

Nationwide release

Director: Michael Mann Cast: Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, Christian Bale, Jason Clarke, Billy Crudup, Stephen Lang
Screenwriter: Ronan Bennett, Michael Mann, Ann Biderman based on the book by Bryan Burroughs
Certificate: 15
Running time: 140 mins
Country: USA
Year: 2009

© Allan Hunter, 2009