Public Enemies

Dir. Michael Mann

1933. America. Great Depression (much like today).

John Dillinger is a bank robber and the Fed’s public enemy number one. At that the director of the police is J. Edgar Hoover (who later became President of the United States… thought I’d throw in a bit of history) and he employs Melvin Pervis played by Christen Bale to catch John who is played by the chameleon Johnny Depp.

John is pursued, John gets captured, John escapes (by very cheeky methods), it’s a cat and mouse game film. This is a very long film. Only negative. There were several times that I thought they could have ended this film however, being a biographical piece it dragged. Yet being a long film, it was able to keep me interested in how John Dillinger was either going to escape or get captured by the police.

Public Enemies was filmed in HD format instead of the classic 35 mm (the same way as to how Collateral was filmed). I really like this style of filming for two reasons. One, it makes the film look like a really well made, expensive student film and two, it feels so much more real for the viewer. You can see every open pore on the actors face. They say that with the rise of the HD format, it will do what the talkies did for the silent movie actors. No Vaseline on the camera lenses for Marion Cotillard (granted she wouldn't need it as she is stunning!) who was brilliant as John Dillenger’s ‘girl’ Billie Frechette.

Production design: amazing. Because of the style of filming, you can see every nook and cranny. It was merely the cheery on the top for the whole feel of the film.

One of my favourite bits in the film is when a really awful gangster bloke finally gets shot down (and good riddance), its out in the open and with the beauty of film you get a very unique moment. You get to see his last breathe. Blink and you’ll miss it, but it’s those types of subtle moments, which makes great films.

This is a really good film that will probably feature highly in next year’s Oscars. I would watch it though in the comfort of your own home as the length of it can be a bit too much in a cinema.