22nd August, 2009

DAVID ADAMS

Public Enemies (MA)

In a word: Uncompromising

GUNSLINGER: Johnny Depp stars as John Dillinger in Public Enemies. Copyright: © 2008 Universal Studios. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. "Depp plays the role with aplomb - there is just a glimmer of the Capt’n Jack Sparrow every now and again as we see Dillinger make one breath-taking escape after another, but Public Enemies is careful not to overly romanticise his life and pulls no punches in showing the results of his crimes."

“He who lives by the sword dies by the sword”. When it comes to the life of John Dillinger - the notorious US bank robber of the era of the Great Depression - sadly there never was a truer statement.

This Michael Mann-directed film kicks off with Dillinger (played by Johnny Depp) and his partners escaping out of the Indiana State Prison in 1933 and follows him through to his eventual death the following year while dipping in and out of the remainder of Dillinger’s life throughout.

A visually interesting - and, at times, bleak - movie, Public Enemies walks the fine-line of capturing the life of the man so many in the States at the time thought of as a kind of modern-day Robin Hood without softening the harsh realities of his life.

Depp plays the role with aplomb - there is just a glimmer of the Capt’n Jack Sparrow every now and again as we see Dillinger make one breath-taking escape after another, but Public Enemies is careful not to overly romanticise his life and pulls no punches in showing the results of his crimes.

Much of the story centres on his relationship with girlfriend Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) and, in a familiar line from oh, so many gangster films, we see Dillinger promising her just one last big score before he can whisk her away into a blissful retirement.

But it’s not to be - largely thanks to the efforts of the rather odd FBI director, J Edgar Hoover (played by Billy Crudup) and his determination to increase the credibility of his agency. Hoover has his best G-man - the humourless Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) - hunting down Dillinger in a role which could be counted among Bale’s finest.

The film leaps from Depp and his at time insane cronies - including the Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham) and Harry Pierpont (Australia’s own David Wenham) and the police as the two groups plot their next move and, ultimately, there’s only one way this film can play out.

Public Enemies is a violent film, but then, Dillinger’s is a story of violence. A well-crafted film which holds you to the last in spite ot its inevitable outcome.

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