Movie Review: Public Enemies (2009, Directed by Michael Mann)

Director Michael Mann handles the life and times of John Dillinger just right in Public Enemies. It’s refreshing to see a filmmaker rely more on stark reality than the conventions of genre in depicting an infamous man’s troubled life. This isn’t to say that Mann’s new film is not entertaining. Indeed, I was deeply engrossed in the story for almost all of the movie’s 2+ hour running time. I’m just saying that I appreciate Mann’s insistence on painting Dillinger’s story with strokes of realism, rather than the typical Hollywood flourishes.

The degree to which the film avoids common generic conventions can be seen at the picture’s end. Dillinger watches an old Clark Gable gangster picture at Chicago’s Biograph Theatre. We, the audience, know exactly what is coming. Even someone who is only casually familiar with the facts of Dillinger’s life has some notion of how it ended. Dillinger and his female companion sit and watch the hackneyed gangster pic. We see Gable’s depiction of a “movie gangster,” complete with over-the-top charm. In contrast, Johnny Depp’s Dillinger is stoic, direct, and brutal. As the Hollywood nonsense on Biograph’s silver screen winds down, Dillinger is in for a stark dose of violent reality out on the mean Chicago streets.

I believe that Mann deliberately dwells on the Gable picture, not just to emphasize the historical facts of the story (apparently Dillinger did actually attend a gangster film on that fateful night), but also to show the extent to which his film Public Enemies is not a typical Hollywood gangster film.

The difference is that Depp plays Dillinger not as a likeable, charming guy who made some bad decisions at some point, but rather as someone who simply lives to commit crimes. The movie never attempts to explain why this is the case. It is all about the what and how of Dillinger’s career, not about the why.

I don’t know that this lack of psychological depth is really a flaw of the film, although it is responsible for leaving me emotionally bankrupt by the end. The truth of the matter is, though, that Mann does an outstanding job dropping us in the middle of the action and giving us a sense of what it was like to live in the time of John Dillinger. All of the film’s events seem immediate, as if they were happening here and now. This is accomplished partly through Mann’s fast-paced editing style. The movie’s frantic pacing matches Dillinger’s life of nonstop violence.

I have to confess that part of my interest in this film lies in the fact that I live in the Chicago area. The legend of Dillinger hangs over the region like a dark cloud. I live just a few blocks from a location in which about 15 minutes of the film were shot. Mann effectively re-dresses the modern locations to take the audience back in time.

I think the rest of the world (not just Chicagoans) will like this film too. It offers a unique combination of well-crafted action sequences, appropriate for the summer blockbuster season, and tightly-constructed story.

I should also mention that Johnny Depp proves himself an actor of great discipline and range as Dillinger. He very easily could have over-acted, but chooses instead to bring out the criminal’s quiet, yet treacherous demeanor. Christian Bale is also effective as the FBI agent (Melvis Purvis) trying desperately to put an end to Dillinger’s crime spree. Marian Cotillard sensitively plays Billy Frichette, Dillinger’s lover (the word “girlfriend” seems strangely inappropriate in this case). All three characters have in common the fact that each of their lives revolve around just one thing. Dillinger’s life revolves around, as he says at the beginning of the film, “robbing banks.” Billy’s life revolves around Dillinger. Purvis’ life revolves around stopping Dillinger. That’s all the film knows about these characters. Perhaps that’s all it needs to know.