Public Enemies (2009)

I was actually quite amazed with this movie. To the best of my knowledge it was historically accurate, it had some good chase scenes and really delved into the life of the famous bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp). The plot of course follows John Dillinger as he robs banks, caps cops, and escapes from jail, but also as he is chased by the FBI led by Christian Bale’s character. It truly is a fast paced movie with some good classic shootout action. All of the cars (including old Ford Model T’s) and the weaponry (including Tommy Guns and BAR’s) look incredibly authentic as far as I can tell.

Johnny Depp does a pretty fantastic job as John Dillinger, he seems pretty fit to be that awesome gangster who’ll stop at nothing to get the cash and make his escape. However, I can’t say this for the rest of the cast. The person who plays Billie (some chick I’ve never heard of), John’s girlfriend throughout the entire, really doesn’t do a very good job. Many of the scenes that are supposed to be intimate between her and John just sort of come off awkward with her kind of mucking up the screen, though she does have a pretty face.

One thing that really interested me about this movie was the way it was shot. Most of the film was shot with handheld cameras, which you can definitely tell because of the slight jolts from walking and lack of smoothness at some points. Coupled with this, the whole lighting and presence of the entire movie was different from anything I’ve seen before. It seemed like the cinematography was taking an approach of between what would be seen in a documentary and a high budget film. It was strangely interesting and sort of lent a certain air of authenticity to the entire film. It seemed like the camera was right in the action and everything was happening spontaneously.

Overall this was interesting but really only good acting from Bale and Depp. Good action and good authenticity. This one gets a 4/5.