July 5, 2009
Michael Mann has a mixed track record, with films of real acclaim like Heat and Last of the Mohicans, but also with some duds such as Miami Vice. Public Enemies appears to have a lot to offer – the star power of Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, and rising star Marion Cotillard. Mann returns to Chicago, his favourite location.
Set in depression-era America, John Dillinger (Depp) carries out a series of bank robberies and becomes the man of the moment – newspapers can’t get enough of him, and the public are fascinated. Melvin Purvis is the man appointed by J Edgar Hoover to hunt Dillinger down and clean up the reputation of gangster-ridden Chicago. The feel of the time is well captured – nothing is spared to immerse us in the world of 1930s America, from the cars and the clothes, to the mood of a country deep in financial gloom.
Criticism has been levelled at the film being shot in High Definition video instead of film. Even if you know nothing about the different ways to shoot a film, look carefully and you will see the difference in image quality. This will probably come down to taste, but digital video captures a lot of detail. The way the action is shot is often by handheld camera, in close proximity with the subjects – during a shoot out or a prison escape we as the audience are in the thick of it, getting a sense of the panic and mess of it all. This is a nice technique, and is not done so often that you get motion sickness. It is refreshing to see this era shot in an irreverent way which captures something of the chaos instead of only the pretty buildings and costumes.
Christian Bale’s performance is intense as Purvis, but he is never really stretched as an actor. Depp has more range in his role, but both play complex men who have conflicting feelings. The performances are subtle but solid. Cotillard shines as the love interest, victim to Dillinger’s forceful charm. When she joins him there is a sense that their love will not last long, as with Bonnie and Clyde.
The film could have been shorter, and despite all it has going for it will probably not count as a truly classic gangster film. However, it is very high quality, complex and thoughtful. Perhaps Mann was trying to make the Gangster film’s version of what the western genre got recently in The Assassination of Jesse James, and there are parallels. But ultimately Public Enemies is not an exceptional piece of cinema. It is, however, a very good one.
Set in depression-era America, John Dillinger (Depp) carries out a series of bank robberies and becomes the man of the moment – newspapers can’t get enough of him, and the public are fascinated. Melvin Purvis is the man appointed by J Edgar Hoover to hunt Dillinger down and clean up the reputation of gangster-ridden Chicago. The feel of the time is well captured – nothing is spared to immerse us in the world of 1930s America, from the cars and the clothes, to the mood of a country deep in financial gloom.
Criticism has been levelled at the film being shot in High Definition video instead of film. Even if you know nothing about the different ways to shoot a film, look carefully and you will see the difference in image quality. This will probably come down to taste, but digital video captures a lot of detail. The way the action is shot is often by handheld camera, in close proximity with the subjects – during a shoot out or a prison escape we as the audience are in the thick of it, getting a sense of the panic and mess of it all. This is a nice technique, and is not done so often that you get motion sickness. It is refreshing to see this era shot in an irreverent way which captures something of the chaos instead of only the pretty buildings and costumes.
Christian Bale’s performance is intense as Purvis, but he is never really stretched as an actor. Depp has more range in his role, but both play complex men who have conflicting feelings. The performances are subtle but solid. Cotillard shines as the love interest, victim to Dillinger’s forceful charm. When she joins him there is a sense that their love will not last long, as with Bonnie and Clyde.
The film could have been shorter, and despite all it has going for it will probably not count as a truly classic gangster film. However, it is very high quality, complex and thoughtful. Perhaps Mann was trying to make the Gangster film’s version of what the western genre got recently in The Assassination of Jesse James, and there are parallels. But ultimately Public Enemies is not an exceptional piece of cinema. It is, however, a very good one.