Public Enemies

Director Michael Mann (and co-writers Ronan Bennett and Ann Biderman, from Bryan Burrough’s book) follows the career of 1930s bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) and the efforts of FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) to track him down, climaxing with the outlaw’s death by gunfire in Chicago. Like most gangster movies, this one comes most to life when the bullets fly, and Dillinger’s exploits provide Mann with plenty of opportunities for well-staged gun battles (just a bit exaggerated for dramatic effect, perhaps); Dillinger’s bank robberies are another matter, and those scenes become redundant to the point of monotony. Mann shows great attention to detail, yet the movie feels strangely inauthentic—just Johnny Depp and Christian Bale playing cops and robbers in fedoras and pinstripe suits.