Public Enemies

Rating: ****

John Dillinger may be an American legend, even in his own time, but he’s hardly been done justice, so to speak, on the big screen. The new film Public Enemies, based on the exhaustively researched book by Bryan Burrough, is about as close to fact that any film about Dillinger has probably got. Part docudrama as well as mob drama, filmmaker Michael Mann has put together an all-star cast to bring the true story of the quintessential era of the American gangster to life, creating an ambitious movie that’s large in scope, but still has an art house feel.

Johnny Depp is both an unusual and natural choice to play Dillinger. By far, it’s probably the most “normal” role he’s memorably taken on since Donnie Brasco. Depp’s an oddly appropriate selection to play Dillinger; both are accidental heroes that became beloved in spite of themselves. Depp, the oddly quirky actor who made a name for himself playing relatable outsiders, became a star quite out of the blue when one of those characters caught on like wild fire. Dillinger was a run-of-the-mill criminal, locked up for robbing a grocery store only to embrace the criminal lifestyle while behind bars. After serving his time he became a bank robber, and in the midst of the Great Depression was seen as a kind of Robin Hood figure, sticking it to the man.

But Public Enemies doesn’t go into too great a detail about why Dillinger was a hero to the people, so the story kind of lacks context. Indeed, many of the criminals labelled “public enemy” were at once feared and beloved for their criminality. In an era where corporate greed had caused so much suffering, people like Dillinger were giving them a taste of their own medicine, especially seeing as how they refused to take money from individuals even when it was offered to them. Context is what was missing, and I think that if you’re someone who’s not overly familiar with the era then there may be a disconnect in knowing why Dillinger was Dillinger.

The other part of the story has to do with the birth of the FBI, and the dogged Agent Melvin Purvis, played by Christian Bale. To be frank, the FBI portions feel kind of marginalized, and kind of Law & Order-like in their straightforward procedural manner. The politics surrounding J. Edgar Hoover - brilliantly, though briefly essayed by Billy Crudup – and his push to create the Bureau in his own very restrictive image are touched on, but not elaborated. Bale himself seems kind of restricted in his role, like he’s wearing an uncomfortable suit.

On other matters, Time film reviewer Richard Corliss unleashed a can of worms concerning Mann’s use of digital for the film. For my part I think that while the film does look great, it’s not an aesthetic that suits the subject matter. It’s just too clean, too precise. For a movie that calls back to classic gangster pictures of old, there’s just too much of a modern feel here. That’s not a huge complaint, but it is something that stuck out in my mind during a couple of scenes: things just look too good. Mann’s been great about pushing the technology between Collateral and Miami Vice, even though it was kind of novelty in that last one, but I think Public Enemies should have been one of those times when a step back would have been the better choice.

But having said all of that, I was enraptured by the film; the personalities, the time, the story, they all just clicked perfectly. Depp ably and expertly leads the ensemble and shows his ample charm and charisma as Dillinger. From the action to the production design to the costuming, everything just clicks together to make the movie work despite its few technical flaws. Though it clocks in at nearly two-and-a-half hours, Public Enemies actually flies by and is truncated enough to stay focused on the main story it’s trying to tell, without feeling like it’s losing much aside from what I stated above. A very well done film all around and a special treat for lovers of classic gangsters.

Traitor

Rating: ***1/2

Traitor was one of those blink and you’ll miss it movies that came out at the end of last summer and didn’t open very wide past the major markets. That’s really too bad because it’s a competently thought out and executed geo-political thriller. It’s certainly not “This year’s Bourne Ultimatum” as the blurb on the DVD cover suggests, but nothing really could be and that’s quite a boast regardless. Now Traitor has some high-minded ideals about what it’s all about, and to a certain degree it meets those expectations. But a ridiculous climax though and a twist stupidly blown in the trailer, ruins any good momentum that the film possesses.

Don Cheadle plays Samir, a Sudanese-American and devout Muslim that works as an arms merchant operating in Yemen. Samir’s caught in a raid while selling explosives to a terrorist named Omar (Saïd Taghmaoui), and the two, though initially distrustful of each other, bond inside a Yemeni prison. Theymanage to escape and soon Samir and Omar join up with other terrorists in Paris as they make their way to America to launch what they believe will be a devastating attack. But Samir’s got pursuers in the form of FBI Agents Clayton (Guy Pierce) and Archer (Neal McDonough), and they both know that he’s up to something. And that’s to say nothing about Samir’s own conflicted feelings about his actions.

The film is interesting because it doesn’t take a cut and dry approach to the story. Although the terrorists in the cell, whose plan involves planting suicide bombers on 50 different passenger buses on Thanksgiving, are unquestionably bad guys, the methods and the investigation techniques of “the good guys” is the part that finds itself questioned. Of the FBI Agents, we see Clayton, the much more considered of the pair who took Arab studies in university and doubts Samir’s level of commitment to the cause, while Archer is the quick tempered one that hits first and asks questions later while talking about his home country in the big letters U.S. and A. It’s an interesting dynamic, and the film introduces it well, but it never quite seems that there’s any follow-up; Clayton and Archer are just always good cop, bad cop with nothing to capitalize on.

We learn that Samir is a double agent working for an “intelligence contractor” and trying to stop Omar’s cell rather than work with him. I got the impression that this was supposed to be one of those in-film reveals rather than a detail left hanging out in the trailer for all to see before hand. I think knowing this in advanced takes a little oomph out of the story, and not just Samir’s arc, although that would have made the character much more grey-shaded, but for the FBI Agents too because you know Samir isn’t as terrible as they think. Which is too bad because Cheadle is as cool as ice; his performance separated from the plot developments you know are coming, makes you think things could play out either way. He really nails a compelling mix of doubt, faith and control.

But aside from Cheadle’s grace and even-handed portrayal, much of the rest of the film unfolds rather typically, although it’s still very compelling and very well-paced. The climax seemed a little too pat though with everything being wrapped up in a neat, little package, to borrow a phrase. It ill-suits the more rounded approach to the subject matter the rest of the film plays with, and grates in a way even worse than Guy Pierce’s so-called southern accent. And worse still, you sat through this film for nearly two hours to have the rug pulled out; it has the smell of studio tampering written all over it. But despite that, I have to say this isn’t a bad piece of work in the slightest. I wish more action movies were this thoughtful and considered about its subject matter.