July 2009
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Public Enemies (15)
Printed 1st July 2009

You know the formula: no exposition/slow-burn start/punctuating scenes of realistic violence/big gun battle towards the climax. The themes are familiar: master cop vs. master crook in a duel to the death/blurred lines of right and wrong, good and bad, hero and villain/what motivates these men to do what it is they do? The execution is recognisable: hi-def digital cameras/hand-held shots/verisimilitude. Public Enemies is undoubtedly a Michael Mann® picture.

It’s also much more than just the period Heat or the polished Miami Vice that this familiarity suggests though. In fact those films could arguably be seen as trial runs, building towards this big one, perhaps Mann’s best crime epic yet?

Public Enemies is Mann’s version of The John Dillinger Story©. A man who captured the imagination of a nation besieged by financial woes, John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) was an unlikely hero: a serial bank robber. Released after nine years in prison in 1933, Dillinger went on to rob banks at will, elude the authorities and choreograph a couple of prison breaks over a whirlwind 14 months before he was shot dead. The public loved him for it though: he only took from the banks and never the customers; he was a charming crook and a real gentleman when ladies were in the vicinity. He was the Robin Hood or the Jesse James of the Chicago crime scene.

The men of law enforcement felt very differently however. The public attention Dillinger received only served to diminish their authority and respect. So sensing an opportunity, the head of the Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup), saw the capture of Dillinger and his crew as the perfect way to elevate his agency into the first national police force: latterly the FBI. Assigning his best G-Man, Melvyn Purvis (Christian Bale), to the task of bringing down America’s original “Public Enemy Number One”, a wicked game of cat-and-mouse was set in play that would change law enforcement forever and give birth to a bonafide legend.

That is told in an unrelentingly brilliant fashion here. Citing Heat as a rehearsal is a hyperbolic statement: that film is a modern crime classic. Public Enemies, however, is pure cinematic perfection.

Mann is a master of his craft, that much has always been true. One of the greatest living directors working today, after only a few moments of any of his films, no matter where you catch it, beginning middle or end, you’d be in no doubt that he is the auteur of the work. The same is true here, the familiar Mann visual style stamped all over every lavishly-crafted frame of a long-term passion project that might just ultimately emerge as his pièce de résistance in time.

Filled to the eyeballs with gorgeous, almost docu-drama style sumptuous cinematography, Public Enemies is your now-standard Mann digi-captured visuals turned all the way up to 11. Crystal-clear in its clarity, every burst of “rat-a-tat” Tommy gunfire or extreme close-up on Depp’s depthless eyes appears on-screen as if for real. From the trailer this almost looked like it would sit uneasy with the subject matter, from the finished project you couldn’t imagine consuming it in any way.

This cinematographical-style coalesces with the rich tonal palette, the golden hues of The Godfather films, the blue hues of Michael Mann films and the stark, almost Dogme at times, lighting along with the perfect period-detailing hair and make-up, costumes and cars, dialogue and speech patters to have the effect of total immersion. It’s almost as if you have been transported back to the 30s to witness these events unfolding for yourself.

Adding to the visual immersion is the key-note performances from an impressive cast. Leading from the front is a triumvirate of central male performances that each border on awards-worthy courtesy of Depp, Crudup and Bale. Hogging most of the screen time is Depp, reigning in the flamboyance that he’s recently been fond of (Captain Jack/Sweeney Todd/Willy Wonka), to portray Dillinger as a cool, calm and collected customer that knows what he wants (“Everything. Right now”) and just how to get it. Of course, the Heat comparisons continue, Dillinger a very similar man to that of De Niro’s Neil McCauley. But then it’s very clear that Dillinger and his downfall (more on which below) was the blueprint for McCauley so that comes as very little surprise. With very little screen time in comparison, Crudup still manages to make almost as much of an impression as Depp to complete an impressive year after also starring in Watchmen. After spending a few years away or in smaller roles (Big Fish/M:iIII), you might compare Crudup’s 2009 to Josh Brolin’s 2007: the man is back in a big way and deserving of a big screen lead all of his own.

As Dillinger’s pursuer and Depp’s counterpoint, Bale continues his consistent cinema acting masterclass whilst adding yet another flawless American accent to his résumé. One of these days he’ll turn in a duff performance but this isn’t it. As for their on-screen chemistry, perhaps unsurprisingly (as the film was surely built on the structure of Heat?), the Bale/Depp dynamic here interestingly mimics the Bale/Ledger dynamic of The Dark Knight: Bale once again happy to play the straight man, the less showy role and let his co-star steal the screen through an explosion of charisma and character tics. No more is this evident in the one on-screen meeting between Dillinger and Purvis, as Bale stays almost silent for the duration of the scene whilst Depp talks and tics from behind his prison bars. It’s a scene they should show students on how to augment your co-stars performance and stands-up to the across the table moments from, yes you got it, Heat, American Gangster and, yes that other one too, TDK.

These three are in-turn supported by an unbelievable roster of talent, nominally the beautiful and big-eyed Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose) as Dillinger’s object d'affection and eventual reason for his downfall after he returns to Chicago for her and Jason Clarke (TVs Brotherhood) as Dillinger’s right-hand man Red. But turns from David Wenham, Stephen Dorff, Channing Tatum, Rory Cochrane, Giovanni Ribisi, Branka Katic, John Ortiz, Adam Mucci and Blighty’s own Stephen Graham in parts great-and-small should also not be overlooked amongst a truly superlative front-to-back cast.

What this all adds up to is a compelling, ambitious, timely and seminal film that stands apart this summer from its contemporaries in every conceivable way. So if relaunched space saga’s, big battling ‘bots, bromance, young wizards or gay fashionistas aren’t your dingus then perhaps Public Enemies is the Number One film for you?

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