Public Enemies

Public Enemies (2009) covers John Dillinger's last year and the FBI's hunt for him. 1933 to 1934. Dillinger robs banks and the public likes him; in the Depression, being an enemy of the banks was a popular position. The FBI is being founded at the same time and Hoover uses the chase to legitimise it. So the film is really about the birth of an institution. Michael Mann shot it on digital and the choice divided people. The thirties look nothing like a period film and closer to news footage. To those who dislike it, it looks cheap; to those who don't, it lifts the events out of the past. Real locations were used. The Little Bohemia Lodge in Wisconsin is the actual place the FBI raided, and the film shot in the very rooms Dillinger stayed in. Around a hundred and fourteen locations were dressed for the thirties and no soundstage was used at all. Streets were redressed for the Biograph Theatre exterior, and another Chicago cinema built in 1920 stood in for the interior. The gunfire was recorded in real spaces, and the sound is among the best gun work in cinema. Johnny Depp and Christian Bale star. Marion Cotillard's part is the emotional centre. It runs 140 minutes. Good for: gangster films, Mann, and true events. Less good for: the digital image may bother you and character depth comes second.