Review and Discussion: 'Public Enemies'

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

"My name is John Dillinger.  I rob banks."

Michael Mann is a singular entity among modern commercial filmmakers.  His special brand of stylized realism and existentialist narrative credo are probably ill-suited to attract a large audience, but the big stars keep flocking to work him because they know, as I do, that he is one of the preeminent American storytellers working today.  He dares to treat his viewers like adults, and such a sin against the programming of the studio assembly line tends to leave his work flagging in the wind amidst the noise and infantile splendor of the 'Revenge of the Fallen's of the world.  But it's not a shame, really, and I seriously doubt Michael Mann cares.  He just works.

His latest work is 'Public Enemies', a brilliant, cutting piece of American history painted with tommy guns and slick suits and featuring a group of men solely of their own time.  Some thematic similarities to Mann's classic 'Heat' and certainly there, but anyone claiming that this film simply transports the other's story to another time is missing the essence of both.  And anyone complaining that 'Public Enemies' lacks traditional character development and moral focus are, well, mostly right.  But they've also either not followed Mann's career or they simply aren't attuned to his narrative values.  Traditional character development and moral focus are not what Michael Mann does.  In 'Public Enemies', as in his other superior works, he doesn't ignore the line between right and wrong, but he makes it just that...a line.  A thin, fuzzy line that doesn't fully encapsulate the men standing on each side.  And as for developing Depp's John Dillinger and Christian Bale's Melvin Purvis, they are handled much the same way as Mann's other protagonists.  They are richly detailed characters who rise from the fabric of their time and place.  They carry out their business and depart in the most logically sound fashion.  We are not spoon-fed data about their childhoods or told why the carry the issues and compulsions they have.  In a Michael Mann universe, it's what men do that defines them.  And as viewers, our job is to evaluate them based on what the director captures them doing.

As played by Depp, John Dillinger is a perfect subject for this approach.  He's a man living solely for the moment, ignoring past and future because he believes they don't truly exist as relevant realities.  He enjoys the life he has, and expresses no regrets.  He's a bank robber.  That's just what he does.  He falls in love with a woman (a splendid Marion Cotillard) who values the rush of freedom and the ecstasy of the moment as much as he does, though they both seem to know the end is near.  

Christian Bale does a fine job in the limited role of Agent Purvis.  He pulsates with the ferocious professional intensity that defines Mann's lawmen even more than his criminals, and despite the southern charm and G-Man veneer, he's as ruthless a killer as anyone in the film.  Do his unit's coarse methods and sketchy ethics compromise their moral superiority in this 'war on crime'?  True to form, Mann lets us decide for ourselves, and his work is all the better for it.   This story is presented as a Midwestern war, without easily identifiable good sides and with firefights characterized by manic bursts and random victims.  Virtue and reason are notions that float away once the bullets fly, and you haven't seen bullets fly like this is a movie before.

The film looks gorgeous, thanks to the revolutionary use of HD cameras that give every scene a sense of realist intensity and immediacy.  Every locale is detailed and focused to the point that they become sharply drawn characters, taking bullets with the same visual and aural punch as the people onscreen.  It really is a completely new look for a feature film, one Mann has been striving toward for years, and it's perfect for the director's style.  Finally he can take his hyper-realist, truth-of-the-moment flourishes and produce a visual product befitting his artistic ideas.  

Like I said, this isn't a film that will babysit you.  It's not a 'popcorn movie' and it's not going to roil your usual theatrical impulses by rooting for one side or the other.  But it is brilliant, and I feel confident predicting that as years pass it will be regarded as a masterpiece.  If nothing else, it's a great way to get the nasty taste of 'Transformers 2' out of your mouth.