Review – Public Enemies ^^ Sunday matinee treat

The much awaited movie of Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, essentially due to  their previous blockbusters, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘The Dark Knight’, finally hit the screens this August. I got to watch it only this Sunday and was totally excited for two reasons. Firstly, it was Johnny Depp. Secondly, it was John Dillinger. Yeah, Johnny Depp is John Dillinger and his mates called him Johnny in the movie too. :)

Set in the era of the Great Depression, this movie is a biographical sketch that limns the life of Public enemy no.1, John Dillinger and his capture by FBI agent, Melvin Purvis. Now, this is a known fact. But almost everyone who watched this film was only awed by the suave Mr.Dillinger and the persevering Mr.Purvis throughout the length of the movie. Of course, Michael Mann, the man behind the scenes has messed a lot with the historical data and presented to us a pure work of fiction with just the roles being real but none seemed to complain about that. All we can know from this movie is that John Dillinger, the bank robber existed during the Great depression, was caught a couple o’ times and put in jail from where he escapes too, had an affair with Billie Frechette and was shot dead in the end outside a movie theatre. There is a clear lack of character development here. I reckon it is one of the toughest things to deal with when filming a real life story. Purvis’ role could’ve been given much more detail and made a powerful character but clearly Dillinger was the centre of the plot. However, even the character of Dillinger wasn’t as powerful as expected except for a few of his glib dialogues like – “They ain’t tough enough, smart enough or fast enough. I can hit any bank I want, any time. They got to be at every bank, all the time” or prompt come-backs like – “There is absolutely nothing I want to do in Indiana”.

Nonetheless, this movie proves to be very refreshing to the public who have been watching films that require their brains to be left at home. Must say, Mann has got his own way of titillating the audience with some of the best shots in the film – the one where Dillinger and his men are watching a movie and suddenly a newsreel pops up displaying Dillinger’s photo as Public enemy no.1. The voice tells the people to look left and then right as Dillinger maybe sitting right next to them. Or the one where Dillinger takes a casual walk in the office of Chicago police’s special unit called the Dillinger Squad set to catch this guy. Also, asking the officers there, “What’s the score?” with a smirk on his face. Surprising as it may sound, Michael Mann managed to get an applause at the end of it all.

I’d give a 8/10 for Public enemies which has marked the start of an exciting movie season this year. :)

Currently, Satyam cinemas has only one show scheduled at 3.30 everyday. Watch it while you can, because at this rate, it is soon going to be lifted off the screens.

Bye Bye, Black Bird!! B-)