PUBLIC ENEMIES (2009)

[The Burgomaster]

Okay, it's not a terrible movie, but I can't recommend it either.  It falls right in the middle of the "okay, but nothing special category."

I like Johnny Depp, and he was good in this movie, but throughout the movie I kept thinking, "That isn't Dillinger . . . it's Johnny Depp playing Dillinger."  So, my suspension of disbelief never really kicked in.

Besides that, the movie never engaged me in any way.  I didn't care about Dillinger, I didn't care about Melvin Purvis, I didn't care about anything or anyone.  Plus, everyone already knows the ending, so there isn't much suspense.

My advice:

1.  Read the book.  It's great and it isn't just about Dillinger.  It's about several notorious criminals including Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, Alvin Karpis, the Barkers, Machine Gun Kelly, and Bonnie and Clyde, who were hunted by police and the FBI over a 2-year period.  It also provides a lot of details about the early years of the FBI and how they bungled a lot of cases.  The movie shows a little of this stuff, but leaves out everything about the Barkers, Machine Gun Kelly, and Bonnie and Clyde.  Baby Face Nelson and Alvin Karpis have supporting roles in the movie and Pretty Boy Floyd is in it for about 2 minutes.

2.  If you are interested in Dillinger, watch the Warren Oates / Ben Johnson version.  It's much more interesting and the DVD is cheap.

So, overall I grade this movie about a C+

[akiratubo]

I agree 100% with Burgomaster.

See it, but wait for Public Enemies to hit the dollar theater.  Don't pay full price to see it.

It's all right but it's just too damned long.  The gun fights are mostly good, especially once they get the BARs.  The 30.06 brass flying was pretty awesome.  There wasn't enough going on to sustain my interest in between gun fights, unfortunately.

Depp doesn't vanish into his role in this movie, like he did with Ed Wood or Jack Sparrow.  I never was able to forget that I was seeing Johnny Depp.  Bale is just sort of there, as usual.

[Mofo Rising]

I really liked it.

My major fault with the movie is that it really had nothing to say. I'm in love with Michael Mann's style of film-making. He's like a less inspired Kubrick. Every shot is beautiful, but it doesn't necessarily communicate anything.

I gave it five stars, just because it is such a well-made movie, better than most films these days. However, we don't come to know anything about Dillinger's character (and really, how could we?).