How to Watch: “Public Enemies”

Step 1: Expect good but not great. Despite the clear talent behind this highly competent film, it is a little disappointing Public Enemies is not as Best Picture quality as it purports to be.

Step 2: Realize it’s tough out there for a bank robber. Public Enemies takes us to the 1930s, where the newly formed FBI, led by the infamous J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup), aims to curb the booming crime wave by hunting its No. 1 outlaw, John Dillinger (Johnny Depp). He’s just a good old Indiana boy who likes to live life by the moment and is considered a Robin Hood by his fans, robbing from the greedy banks and not from the poor people. He makes a mockery of the Feds, breaking his gang out of jail and escaping custody himself. But the good times don’t last forever, not in this line of work. Hoover puts his best man on the case – Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) – who bungles it a few times before finally getting his man outside a Chicago movie theater July 22, 1934. I hate it when you know how it’s all going to end.

Step 3: Appreciate how good Depp looks without weird makeup or dreadlocks. Damn good, to be frank. And just as he does with a Willy Wonka or Capt. Jack Sparrow, Depp pours himself into the Dillinger role, heart and soul, giving a subtly powerful performance. As does the always good Bale, who, as Purvis, shows the dedication to right the wrongs of the world. I’m just hoping Bale does a comedy soon because the guy needs to smile once in awhile.

Step 4: Waste the supporting players. Oscar-winning Marion Cotillard unfortunately has the thankless job of playing Dillinger’s girlfriend Billie Frechette, whose real-life relationship with the bank robber is beefed up here to add more romance to the film. As is the rest of Dillinger’s gang, including Jason Clarke as John “Red” Hamilton, Stephen Dorff as Homer Van Meter and David Wenham as Harry “Pete” Pierpont. Only Stephen Graham as Baby Face Nelson gets to chew it up a bit, but that’s because Nelson was a WHACK job in real life. Gotta play him going down in a hail of gunfire, screaming at the coppers all the way.

Step 5: Add juice to this Michael Mann gangster flick. Don’t get me wrong, Mann is clearly an expert. The film’s stunning visuals and heart-pumping shoot-outs are on par with other Mann classics, such as Heat and The Last of the Mohicans. And he guides his two lead actors with the same even hand as always does with his talent, bringing out the best of them in those intense one-on-one confrontational scenes. But overall, Mann fails at getting the audience to root for Dillinger like you do with Bonnie and Clyde. Public Enemies is too dry, lacking a certain emotional core that could have put it on the top 10 lists.

Level of difficulty in watching Public Enemies: Moderately easy. Borderline monotonous, Johnny Depp’s performance as the slick Dillinger almost makes up for it.