American Gangsters

Public Enemies is another in director Michael Mann's authoritarian command of American crime. As it plays, Enemies most resembles Heat, obviously. Bank robbers do battle with lawmen and a babe is left stuck in the middle of this no man's land that has little regard for business as usual. This is high level crime. A step ahead has more to do with efficiency and discipline than brute force. But when it comes time to get dirty, no one in modern cinema shoots a shoot 'em up like Mann. His bullets rip and shred and really mean something. Sequences like the hit at Little Bohemia or the shootout in downtown L.A. are more military combat than urban assault. The audience, at this point, is fully invested, because Mann knows how to balance methodic procedural with beats of humanity. We care as much about the chase as we do about the players. Here, Johnny Depp is absolutely mesmerizing as John Dillinger. It is a performance nowhere near the theatrics of his work in the Pirates films. Absent is the quirky body language and line delivery. Depp instead performs with his greatest asset, his ability to project the hauntings of men. He has the face of a cemetery with eyes women say yes to and men can't help but respect. Mann employs a rock steady stream of close-ups that really get to the heart of the matter. So while the dialogue refuses to go there, Depp and Mann are game in getting beneath the gangster's skin.