Most Wanted: Depth and color

Michael Mann helming a crime thriller based on the notorious John Dillinger that pits Johnny Depp against Christian Bale may sound like a Hollywood sure-thing. But don’t be surprised if you get a sense that someone has been through your pockets when it’s all said and done. Public Enemies may not rob you completely, but it’s nowhere near the pay-off audiences might expect. The film’s muted palette intends to play to the feel of the 1930′s. Instead, it ironically better represents the film’s pervasive weakness — shades of beige as far as a nearsighted person can see. With such rich, historical material on hand, it’s disappointing that the most wanted thing in Public Enemies is some true depth and color.

Chronicling the last years of the famed robber, Mann relies on his particular flavor of filming, usually involving tight, staticky shots and unstable framing — a technique that creates an air of intimate frenzy. The style works quite effectively in his previous crime dramas like Heat, Collateral and Miami Vice; but in Public Enemies, it feels wholly opposed to the ’30s environment and tone. In Miami Vice (2006), for instance, the filming has a nimble, citizen journalist-like finish to it that audiences can easily digest considering today’s technology and the modern setting and subject matter of the film. But taking that sensibility into a period piece like Public Enemies gives you a sense that this is perhaps footage from someone’s hand-held that was on set that day. The scenes feel like behind-the-scenes, which in turn, never give you a real opportunity to immerse yourself in the environment, story and characters. That’s not John Dillinger, that’s Johnny Depp in a fedora.

And even though I now know that Christian Bale has better pores than Johnny Depp, I have little sense of Dillinger’s 1930′s. Mann spends so much of his film staring characters in the face. Not only is his filming technique misplaced, but so too is what he chooses to film. Audiences need to feel that they’ve been taken back 70 years. An extended smirk from Depp or a dull stare from Bale doesn’t effect this journey back. Paradoxically, Mann’s short-range style of filming gives you a feeling of great distance from the actual story.

This is a sad fact, since John Dillinger’s story is a pretty interesting one. The notorious bank robber of the early 1930′s, also know as the “Jackrabbit,” Dillinger was regarded as a modern-day Robin Hood who hit nearly two dozen banks and escaped from jail on more than one occasion. Mann’s film appears to hit many of the pivotal moments of Dillinger’s last years, and Depp characteristically does the role justice. Nothing remarkable by any stretch, mind you; that is if you don’t compare him to Bale, who plays the lead FBI agent after Dillinger, Melvin Purvis. As our recent poll on the site indicated, Bale’s appeal may be wearing thin. Mann’s fixated takes do Bale no favors, and cause him to come off flatter than a stack of flap-jacks. The only member of the extensive cast (which includes Channing Tatum, Billy Crudup, Giovanni Ribisi, David Wenham and more) that stands out is Marion Cotillard as Dillinger’s girlfriend. Cotillard manages to avoid the film’s shortfalls and imbue some genuine depth and color in her character.

Historical grounding and a banner cast, however, doesn’t save Public Enemies from being a pretty ordinary affair. Mann is better suited to modern-day dramas that allow him greater license to craft his particular tone and environment. You expect a story such as Dillinger’s to carry a certain gravity and perspective. If you’re looking for a film that does that well, go rent The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. The two films have fairly parallel tracks, both tracing the final years of their respective notorious robber. The differences in quality, however, are striking. Public Enemies will certainly outdo Jesse James at the box office, but the latter film should sit above it on your list of most wanted.