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 Public Enemies, directed by Michael Mann, is about the life and times of John Dillinger, one of America's legendary and iconic criminals, right up there with Billy The Kid, Blackbeard The Pirate and, I don't know, Al Capone. The film stars Johny Depp as the title character Johnny Dillinger and Christian Bale as Melvin Purvus, the G-Man out to bring Dillinger down.
 There is much to like in this caper film.
I liked the scene where John Dillinger found his lady checking coats in the coat check room. He is basically telling her that she is done checking coats, that he is the gangster's wife now and hers will be a life of luxury though on a tightrope.
Johnny Depp was good because I was able to forgot he was Captain Jack Sparrow or one of any odd ball characters from Willy Wonka to Edward Scissors Hands and more. Here, he was pretty solid as a John Dillinger. Though, I don't think this will ever go down as a signature performance. Still, I can't ultimately see what we have to gain from another Public Enemies move. I was half torn if this film was a character study or a period piece. Don't' get me wrong, I love the gangster genre. In the end, what is the fresh angle on Dillinger? In some sense it is like a money making opportunity for movie studies. There must be an autopilot program that tells a producer "Hey, its X amount of years, we need a Public Enemies film." The film was rather sympathetic toward Johnny Dillinger as a whole, what with the G-Men beating on his girl to confess where he was. Alas, J. Edgar Hoover was calling the strings and he wanted to do whatever it took to get the mob under control. He wanted to take off the "white gloves" so to speak. This sort of caused a moment of reflection, ah, that may be too strong of word, more like a "pause" for the robotic Melvin Purvis. Hmm. I guess he was a good guy. Dillinger was clearly more interesting than this stiff. And as far as John Dillinger is concerned, he appeared to be rather static right up tot he end. The only thing I learned about his motivation was merely that he was sent to jail as a kid for stealing from a store. He got ten years and made all sorts of the wrong friends. I wonder if he really had the balls to walk into the Chicago Police Department, like he did toward the end of the film. He went casually walking through the building looking at his dossier photos pinned up on the wall. I thought it would have been cool if he took a Sharpie and signed his picture. Did they have Sharpies back then? Christian Bale was sort of flat at the G-Man out to get Dillinger. I guess the part called for that. I just wish that asshole could have channelled some of the terminator thespian anger he is so famous for—the rage that so riled him on the set of that great cinematic effort called a Terminator sequel whatever. Such a part obviously needed every ounce of Shakespearean monologue-like focus and thespain concentration. I think my biggest gripe is that I liked the Untouchables with Kevin Costner much better than this flick and I can't say I was ever a huge fan of the untouchables. It so happened it was on cable not long after I saw Public Enemies and it is clearly a much better film. I think Eliot Ness was better as the G-Man than the flat Melvin Purvis. I liked Kevin Costner better as the G-Man then Bale as Pervis. Public Enemies is a competent cinematic effort. The acting was good. The story was about John Dillinger. Hard not to make it interesting. Still, I did not learn anything or experience anything new. In fact, with narration, this flick would have been one heck of interesting FBI Files segment with Bill Kurtis. But, alas, it is a feature lenght film and I give it a Queen.
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