Public Enemies

Michael Mann is back after 2006’s god-awful “Miami Vice” with “Public Enemies,” which is thankfully an improvement. Johnny Depp stars as 30s gangster John Dillinger and Christian Bale as his FBI foil, Melvin Purvis.

Depp is pretty good as Dillinger. He’s indifferent yet cool as ice when he needs to be. It’s refreshing to see Depp play a human being again as opposed to all the cartoon like characters he’s been doing lately. He gets all the best lines too. Some of them are so good they seem to be from a different movie altogether.

That is perhaps what’s most frustrating about “Public Enemies.” It has flashes of a great, Oscar worthy picture, but they’re too few and far between. The last scene in particular has an aura of going for gold.

The movie prefers settling somewhere between good and not bad. The acting is solid but never enough to get you emotionally involved. The story is interesting, but lacks direction and strong conflict. I was looking for an electric match up between Depp and Bale, but the tension was only there in one instance.

Bale does nothing with his one note performance. Billy Crudup as the slightly imprudent J. Edgar Hoover is much more interesting. The subplot of the birth of the FBI was worthy of more screen time.

The project based on Bryan Burrough’s book, “Public Enemies,” was originally pitched to HBO as a miniseries. More time could have been given to Hoover, the FBI, and outlaws Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd. This would have been nice here, but the picture belongs to Depp.

Marion Cotillard as Dillinger’s girlfriend Billie Frechette is one of “Public Enemies” greatest strengths. She adds a little weight and gives Dillinger a more human side to root for.

But in the end, I guess the lead and the viewer are both detatched; Dillinger from society, the audience from emotion. Despite the letdowns, “Public Enemies” is worth seeing. Who doesn’t want to see a gangster Johnny Depp run around robbing banks?

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