Public Enemies
The easiest way to sum up this movie is: too much John Dillinger, not enough Melvin Purvis. Obviously, Dillinger is the more charismatic, compelling character; but don't wait until the editing room to figure that out. Either make a film about Dillinger and his FBI pursuer or just make one about Dillinger. Purporting to tell two sides of the same story and then leaning towards the more fascinating side is disingenuous and Michael Mann robs Public Enemies of the full impact it could have had, either as a straight-up Dillinger biopic or a balls-to-the-wall chase film.
That's not to say Public Enemies is a waste of time and energy. Johnny Depp is his usual brilliant self as Dillinger, blending effortlessly into another role completely divergent of whatever it was he did before this. (IMDB informs me it was Sweeney Todd. See what I mean?) Christian Bale plays Batman as G-Man. Not that he has much choice since Purvis' internal conflict stems from the guilt of killing an innocent bystander—a footnote before the end credits which only confirms the misguided parallel story attempt. Supporting this actors' showcase are Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard as Dillinger's Native American with an inexplicable French accent girlfriend, and Billy Crudup in a performance that would be laughable if J. Edgar Hoover didn't actually sound like a James Cagney/Edward G. Robinson mash-up.
Unfortunately, the action-verité style established by Mann on Heat was woefully corrupted by a faulty stereo track on the print we watched, which cut out about halfway through the picture and virtually eliminated all of the sound editing. It forced us to strain to hear dialogue and made this film sound like we were listening to it through a tin can telephone line. (At least we got free tickets to another movie out of it.)
That probably didn't help my impression of the film, but I still
feel that even with a clear stereo soundtrack that the choice to tell
two incomplete stories rather than a well-defined singular tale is what
keeps Public Enemies from reaching its full potential. There's
definitely a great movie in there somewhere—Mann just didn't find it.