For a totally different look at Public Enemies, check out Ryan Hamelin's review immediately following Tom's.

Public Enemies

Review By: Tom Herrmann
TomHerrmann@TheCinemaSource.com

Movie Grade: A

It’s been three years since The Departed, and I have been craving another outstanding crime film with a ridiculous cast. As specific as the latter might make that seem, Public Enemies is exactly what I wanted. I don’t think I have ever been in a theater that size without an empty seat. In the back there were people standing and throughout the movie no one made a sound outside of the occasional laugh at the comic relief. It was as if the audience was in a trance; myself included.

Based on the true story of John Dillanger (Johnny Depp) and the creation of the FBI to thwart criminals of his kind, Public Enemies is a breath of fresh air in comparison to more recent films. Lead by Marvin Pervis (Christian Bale), the beauro attempts to catch capture Dillanger, after pre-existing police forces couldn’t manage to get a hold of him. Pervis quickly realizes exactly why Dillanger is so hard to get a hold of and pulls out all the stops to end his reign of bank robberies, among other crimes across the United States.

Depp’s performance as Dillanger is stellar, as most of his roles are. He plays the villainous character extremely well, which makes me a bit overzealous about the rumor that he will portray The Ridiler in the next Batman installment-- keep your fingers crossed. Speaking of Batman, Christian Bale’s performance in Public Enemies is vastly better than his more recent work. Even though his character doesn’t have a great deal of emotion, it has a lot more to offer than his rendition of John Conner or Bruce Wayne, and it lacks the idiotic voices he uses in both of those parts. One other thing about the cast is how many random faces there are in this one. It would be a fun game to see who could name the most actors playing bit parts but that will have to wait for the video release.

Now that the “ridiculous cast” has been covered, its time to talk about how outstanding the film itself is. The only problem now is where to begin. The first notable trait of the movie was that the cinematography was very unique. Being shot in digital, the movie had a very interesting look to it. The contrast between light and dark was very intense, creating a much darker view in dim lit scenes and an absurdly bright view in other scenes. The difference really exaggerates the mood to just the right amount and are well accompanied by a lack of background music for the most part. Music isn’t absent through the entire film, but action scenes in particular are left without it. With that gone, we are left with the sound of gunfire and screams of fear and agony.

Don’t let that last piece discourage the more easily frightened readers. ...