Digital film strikes again!
Public Enemies (C+) - Like David Lynch, digital film will be the downfall of Michael Mann. digital film allows a director to shoot anything, anywhere, at random, no strings. This sounds like it should be a good thing, but for some people, it simply causes them to shoot shit at random and lose all sense of narrative. Hence is the problem with Public Enemies. The movie lacks any sense of a proper narrative. Supposedly its about the last year int he life of John Dillinger, but apparently it wasn't a very fun year. I mean, he robs some banks. I counted about 3 robberies in the film. Two and a half hour film. The film basically consists of randomness, sporadically interrupted by important real life events on Dillinger's life. It is the fact that this is based on a true story, and on someone's actual life, that keep the movie from becoming completely random and incoherent. Mann MUST stick to some kind of focus because of true events. It's those sequences of the film where things get interesting! Dillinger's jail breaks, his bank robberies, and one outstanding gun battle that takes place in a cabin in the woods. Nobody can direct shoot outs like Michael Mann. Nobody. That one in particular, was thrilling. Depp's performance was also top notch. Sadly though, the characters are never really given depth. Just broad strokes. It's as if Mann believes if you get too deep into the characters, they lose their appeal and the cease to become "cool". Mann is more interested in making characters look "cool" instead of being human. I don't know why this is. He's managed to find the perfect balance of this before, in particular Collateral, where he managed to give both depth emotion and a proper connection to both Jamie Foxx character and even the normally would be shallow assassin played by Tom Cruise. And Cruise was a badass in that movie. So there is a balance! Mann has just become too fixated on style instead of depth. So you never get more then a broad painting of who Dillinger was, but Depp plays it perfectly none the less, trying desperately to add a layer to the character that wouldn't normally be there. You can tell Depp truly believes in his character and makes the most of this film as he can.
Christian Bale is also in the movie as Melvin Purvis, the cop on the hunt for Dillinger. Bale's role is essentially thankless, since its even more vague and underwritten then Dillinger. Anybody could have played this role, and you'd get the same out of it. It's a shame because his character was more complex in reality then he is in the film. Mann's attention is obviously to Dillinger. One brief performance that did stick out though was Dr. Manhattan himself, Billy Crudup as J. Edgar Hoover. He played Hoover exactly as the ferocious asshole that he was. It isn't a big role at all, but Crudup is excellent in it. Also a standout, british actor Stephen Graham (who i dont think i've ever seen in anything before) does a fantastic job as the utterly maniacal gangster Baby Face Nelson. But this is Depp's film. He owns it, and he, along with some sporadic excellently done sequences save the film.
In the end, you don't really learn much about Dillinger. You don't learn what makes him tick, you dont get a sense of who he actually was. You basically just get a voyeurs view of a time in his life. It's a shame because with a little tightening and restraint, this could have been a very fun cat and mouse gangster flick. It oozes style, but has nowhere to put it. Michael Mann's downfall is digital filmmaking. Digital film allows him to shoot at random and basically string shit together on a whim. This is what DESTROYED his Miami Vice movie. Like David Lynch, he needs some form of restraint or his style a visual flair overwhelm the narrative. Only because this was actual life was he held back. History managed to restrain him. I fear the next film he does, if its based off his own idea, it may just end up being a complete mess. We'll have to wait and see. I'll give Mann one more chance before I deem him no longer worthy of running to the theater for. One thing is evident, he will never top HEAT. That movie remains his masterpiece.
So is it worth seeing? Yeah check it out of you want, but wait for rental. It's not worth the trip to the theater. This is a movie that plays far better on the small screen.