Review of Public Enemies (2009) by Chads. — 02 Jul 2009

[***SELF-POLICING SPOILER ALERT*** With "Goodfellas", filmmaker Martin Scorsese had fire and ice on his hands too, in which the gangsters played by Ray Liotta(Henry Hill) and Joe Pesci(Tommy DeVito) were studies in contrast, as are John Dillinger(Johnny Depp) and Baby Face Nelson(Stephen Graham) in "Public Enemies".

Unlike the hot-headed Tommy, an honest-to-goodness sociopath, Henry was a pretty cool customer, reticient even, much to Tommy's mother's irritation, who complains to her scumbag son that his friend doesn't say much, in the scene where the mafiosos sit down(along with Robert DeNiro) for an after hours meal.

In "Public Enemies", Dillinger, the way Depp plays him, is so in control of his emotions, it's easy to forget that he robs banks for a living. The gangster needs to go beserk, just once, to prove he has a pulse, like Henry, who pistol-whips a guy when the neighbor gets fresh with his girlfriend Karen(Lorraine Bracco).

Does Dillinger love Billie Frechette(Marion Cotillard) enough to bash in a guy's head with his gun? It's hard to tell because Depp's performance is way, way, way too modulated. This ain't a Jim Jarmusch film, right? Dillinger is no James Cagney, and that's the filmmaker's point(case and point, the gangster watches a gangster film: in the bijou, W.

S. Van Dyke's "Manhattan Melodrama" is playing); he was just a man. But these are the movies, so although the reluctance to mythologize Dillinger was a mature decision("Public Enemies" docu-dramatizes him), the potential for an engrossing anti-hero was sacrificed in the process.

Baby Face Nelson, on the other hand, now that's our Cagney(he does an imitation of him to some bar patrons in one scene), that's our spark plug, but alas, Graham's rendering of Dillinger's right-hand man is sadly underused.

It's the "Dead Man" who gets to quote the Hollywood legend, in a scene where Dillinger tries to put Billy's mind at ease about his dangerous occupation, boasting that he's on "top of the world", just like Cagney did in Samuel Fuller's "White Heat".

Too bad he sounds so unconvincing.