Public Enemies

2009 Crime Drama

Based on author Bryan Burrough's ambitious tome Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-43, director Michael Mann's sprawling historical crime drama follows the efforts of top FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale ) in capturing notorious bank robber John Dillinger. A folk hero to the American public thanks to his penchant for robbing the banks that many people believed responsible for the Great Depression, charming bandit Dillinger (Johnny Depp) was virtually unstoppable at the height of his criminal career; no jail could hold him, and his exploits endeared him to the common people while making headlines across the country. J. Edgar Hoover's (Billy Crudup) FBI was just coming into formation, and what better way for the ambitious lawman to transform his fledgling Bureau of Investigation into a national police force than to capture the gang that always gets away? Determined to bust Dillinger and his crew, which also included sociopathic Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham) and Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribisi), Hoover christened Dillinger the country's very first Public Enemy Number One, and unleashed Purvis to take them down by whatever means necessary. But Purvis underestimated Dillinger's ingenuity as a master criminal, and after embarking on a frantic series of chases and shoot-outs, the dashing agent humbly surmised that he was in over his head. Outwitted and outgunned, Purvis knew that his only hope for busting Dillinger's gang was to baptize a crew of Western ex-lawmen as official agents, and orchestrate a series of betrayals so cunning that even America's criminal mastermind wouldn't know what hit him. Marion Cotillard, Channing Tatum, and Stephen Dorff co-star. more..

Director: Michael Mann

Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Billy Crudup, Channing Tatum

Reviews

  • Simultaneously an art film and a crime film, Mann's latest work may not give you a ton to hang on to emotionally, but the beauty and skill of the filmmaking keep you tightly in its grasp.

    Kenneth Turan - Los Angeles Times

    27 April 2013

  • This is a very good film, with Depp and Bale performances of brutal clarity. I'm trying to understand why it is not quite a great film. I think it may be because it deprives me of some stubborn need for closure.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    27 April 2013

  • Public Enemies comes at you like Dillinger did: all of a sudden. It's movie dynamite.

    Peter Travers - Rolling Stone

    27 April 2013

  • If Public Enemies lacks anything, it's something audiences can't legitimately expect to find: a certain EXTRA something.

    Mick LaSalle - The San Francisco Chronicle

    27 April 2013

  • A welcome adult alternative to summer's sophomoric blockbusters. The only transforming going on here is actors skillfully taking on roles of '30s-era gangsters and lawmen.

    Claudia Puig - USA Today

    27 April 2013

Awards

  • Period Film

    Art Directors Guild (2010)

     
  • Best Thriller

    Empire Awards, UK (2010)

     
  • Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama

    Satellite Awards (2009)

     
  • Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

    Screen Actors Guild Awards (2010)

     
  • Choice Summer Movie Star: Male

    Teen Choice Awards (2009)