Michael Mann: Ranking His Films From Worst To Best
10. Public Enemies
Early on in Manns 2009 period piece, celebrity gangster John Dillinger, played with smooth swagger by Johnny Depp, rattles off a few quick bullet points from his past to Marion Cotillards Billie Frechette: I was raised on a farm in Mooresville, Indiana. My mama died when I was three, my daddy beat the hell out of me cause he didnt know no better way to raise me. I like baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars, whiskey, and youwhat else you need to know? Uh, how about anything else? Despite a hefty 140 minute runtime and a wealth of biographical and historical research to draw from, this thinly sketched soliloquy represents the sum total of Public Enemies attempts to develop its central character beyond anything more than just your typical, run-of-the-mill movie gangster. This isnt exactly what you might call a rich character study and, sadly, its a flaw that isnt confined merely to Dillinger, with none of the major players ever exhibiting anything more than the most blasé of distinguishable personality traits. Though the film has its share of visual pleasures, Public Enemies is more or less a total wash, less of a movie than a feature-length History Channel special. Depp, Cotillard, and Christian Bale, as FBI agent Melvin Purvis, do what they can to elevate the material, but none of their efforts prove sufficient enough to make Public Enemies anything more than passable laundry-folding-viewing.
