Public Enemies - the inthenews.co.uk first review
Public Enemies - the inthenews.co.uk first review
Also In The News
|
US actress Farrah Fawcett has died after a long-fought battle with cancer, her spokesman has confirmed. |  |
Tuesday, 30, Jun 2009 12:21
Johnny Depp is in his finest form in years in this superb account of one of the most notorious gangsters in US history, writes Lewis Bazley.
Directed by Michael Mann, out July 1st, in cinemas, starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, running time 140 mins.
In a nutshell…
Immersive, complex and unflappably cool.
What's it all about?
Four years into the Great Depression and the American economy is on its knees. But with the escape from prison of enterprising outlaw John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), a nation is about to find an antihero who targets the very banks that ruined them. As Dillinger continues to evade police, and falls for the beautiful Billie Frechette (Cotillard), director of the fledgling FBI J Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) sets his best man Melvin Purvis (Bale) on the case and begins the first nationwide war on crime.
Film Trailers by Filmtrailer.com
Who's in it?
Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean, Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd) stars as John Dillinger, with The Dark Knight and Terminator Salvation's Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, the agent tracking the greatest bank robber of the age. Oscar winner Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose, Big Fish) is Dillinger's girlfriend Billie Frechette while Giovanni Ribisi, Stephen Dorff and Stephen Graham are all part of Dillinger's robbery gangs.
Public Enemies is directed by Chicago-born Michael Mann, best known for crime masterpiece Heat, as well as The Insider, Ali and Collateral.
As an example…
"You can be a dead hero or an alive coward." - Dillinger
"We're having too good a time today, we ain't thinking about tomorrow." - Dillinger
"I like baseball, movies, fast cars, good clothes, whisky, and you. What else you need to know?" - Dillinger
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars?
Though it remains too entrenched in its genre to merit a best picture nod, Mann's incredibly authentic recreation of the period could see his name among the directing nominations while Depp provides one of his finest performances in years, as he steers clear of pastiche and puts a human face on a legendary figure.
What the others say
"Intelligent and challenging: Mann's crime epic could take two viewings to fully absorb, but it's worth every devoted minute." - Ian Nathan, Empire
"As expected, Mann's period piece is technically flawless and visually accomplished, but the more heartening news is that this perfectionist filmmaker doesn't let the stylish action completely overwhelm his characters." - Tim Grierson, Screen International
So is it any good?
"Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner."
Master thief Neil McCauley espoused the above mantra concerning the importance of combining solitude with a life of crime in Michael Mann's crime classic Heat. Though Public Enemies, a tale of the absorbing myth of 30s bank robber John Dillinger, doesn't quite match up to the director's 1995 masterwork, it's an equally thrilling, undeniably more authentic portrayal of the inevitable clash between the law and the lawless, between love and an unquenchable lust for life.
Where to begin? Public Enemies hits our screens in the midst of a summer blockbuster season in which only Star Trek has lived up to the hype so far and, as fun as JJ Abrams' intergalactic effort was, Mann and co have a great deal more to say. With the the world's finances almost as crumbling as they were when Dillinger reigned supreme, they've also got a real-life hero as relevant today as he was more than 70 years ago.
A man as obsessed with the importance of public image as his single-minded nemesis Hoover, Dillinger might be mad as hell and not quite ready to take it anymore, but that doesn't mean he can't have some decorum and a steady hand while fleecing thousands from those greedy banks (but not, crucially, their customers). And in Depp, Mann's got a leading man with as much style and range as De Niro some 14 years ago, and an extra helping of cool. As Dillinger leaps over a bank desk, smoothly and swiftly charms Billie Frechette or, most audaciously, strolls serenely around the very police bureau dedicated to his capture, you're struck not just by the hedonistic, to-hell-with-tomorrow confidence of the man himself, but by the fact that in returning to a truly human character after years of cartoonish roles, Depp's given himself his strongest chance of that first Oscar.
He's also surrounded by a supporting cast at the top of their game, with a steely-eyed Bale erasing memories of his Terminator Salvation horrorshow, as he reminds you of his not inconsiderable gifts, and Cotillard bewitching and adorable as Frechette, whose wish for a life of excitement and attachment to Dillinger becomes his Achilles' heel.
Shot with a close, frequently handheld camera - in high-definition that brings a dusty level of detail to this intricately researched recreation of 1930s America - it's also Mann's best work in the director's chair since The Insider (1999), but with deafening machine gun fire and sharp suits in the place of tobacco industry intrigue.
With a prison break and a bank robbery in the opening 20 minutes, he casts us headfirst into the action and never lets up, sometimes confusing the senses in a hail of bullets, but never losing his grip on the steady pacing of John and Billie's relationship and the former's irresistible desire to make a mark in what he knew would be a short life.
As you find yourself momentarily sidetracked by noticing a lump in your throat in sympathy for a notorious criminal, Mann plays out a climax superbly intercut with Clark Gable film Manhattan Melodrama, the last smirking experience of movie-lover Dillinger's life.
Though his blaze of glory ended in a bloody mess outside the Biograph theatre, had he lived, Dillinger would have paid hard-earned - or not - cash to see Public Enemies, a high-paced, iconic, intelligent and effortlessly cool crime classic.
9/10
Lewis Bazley