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While the gangster film sub-genre has never been one of my favorites, my predilection within that sub-genre has always been for the movies that favor dramatic development and dialogue-based scenes rather than those that go for having extended chase and/or shoot-out sequences. This is probably the reason why, despite the fact that Public Enemies falls short of being great, I was still able to enjoy it, perhaps more than someone who may have been looking for something more action-packed (like Michael Mann's last effort, Miami Vice, which I found to be underwhelming).
As the main character, John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) is developed so well by the film into a three-dimensional being that we're able to both sympathize with his struggle and occasionally root for him, as well as feel outraged by the crimes he commits: he steals money from banks, but makes it a point not to steal anyone's personal money directly, and at one point in the film when he is arrested, we witness crowds of people actually cheering him on. Of course, this type of film wouldn't be able to succeed alone on solid character development if it wants to be entertaining as well, but thankfully, the heist sequences are handled with a great deal of finesse, as are the moments in which our protagonist is either being followed by the police or is on the verge of being caught (the best of these is an extremely tense moment at a red stoplight). Only one of the shoot-out/chase sequences (the one at the Little Bohemia lodge) doesn't quite work well: the gun-firing goes on for way too long, and it then moves on to a somewhat unengaging car chase - and yes, this is an important sequence because, once it ends, Dillinger is essentially "alone," so it does help with making things more complicated and upping the emotional stakes of the plot, but I don't feel like the sequence itself was put together by the editors as well as it could've been.
Unsurprisingly, Johnny Depp continues to exhibit versatility as an actor by once again inhabiting the role he gets to the best of his ability. He doesn't take the easy path of portraying Dillinger as a thug who's made of stone; in fact, he displays far more vulnerability than actors normally get across when playing characters like this one. Sadly, the script works so hard on developing Dillinger that it doesn't leave much room for us to get to know Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), one of the officers in charge of tracking down the infamous bank robber. Bale gives a somewhat stiff performance, largely because he doesn't get much room to do anything beyond that. Marion Cotillard is a pleasure to watch as Billie Frechette, one of those girls in charge of checking people's coats, but more importantly, she's the woman that captures Dillinger's heart and never lets go of it (the scene in which Dillinger essentially removes her from her job at the coat-checking station and takes her with him is great). While Cotillard is entirely successful in her performance in terms of getting Billie's emotions across to the audience, her accent is a bit of an issue on more than one occasion, and it definitely feels like she could've done a little more work with her dialect coach.
The fact that Public Enemies runs a hefty 2 hours and 20 minutes and manages to remain involving for the good majority of that time is definitely commendable. Some have expressed complaints about Mann's usage of the shaky-cam device, and I have to admit I was apprehensive about that prior to watching the film, because I'm not normally a fan of that sort of thing, but I didn't find it to be a problem at all - truth be told, Public Enemies is very well-shot, and the impeccable set design makes it an even better visual experience.
6/10
