Polished dramatization of the last months of famed Depression-era gangster John Dillinger (a commanding Johnny Depp) as he orchestrates prison breaks, continues his bank-robbing spree across the Midwest, repeatedly eludes capture by special agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) of the nascent FBI, and romances Chicago coat-check girl Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard). Though the bullets fly in director and co-writer Michael Mann's sleek adaptation of journalist Bryan Burrough's 2004 history, the violence never becomes excessive, and the focus remains on Dillinger's complex personality, his perverse popularity and the moral limits circumscribing law enforcement. Considerable action violence, brief torture, cohabitation, brief nongraphic premarital sexual activity, at least one use of the F-word, and occasional crude and profane language. A-III -- adults. (R) 2009

Public Enemies (Full Review)

From unsound and unpopular financial institutions, to the scramble to exploit publicity, to the moral limits circumscribing interrogation, many of the social conditions -- and issues -- in the background of the polished Depression-era crime saga "Public Enemies" (Universal/Relativity) remain all too familiar, despite the passage of more than seven decades.

Primarily, though, this is a mostly faithful dramatization of the last 14 months in the tumultuous life of famed gangster John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), felled by officers of the nascent FBI in Chicago on July 22, 1934, a month to the day after his 31st birthday.

The film begins with Dillinger orchestrating a jailbreak that reunites his gang, and renewing their bank-robbing spree across the Midwest. Frustrated FBI director J. Edgar Hoover (a padded Billy Crudup) puts crack special agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) on the case. But Dillinger continually eludes Purvis' team -- caught once and incarcerated, he famously escaped using a fake gun carved from wood -- as he romances Chicago coat check girl Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard).

The pair's initial premarital encounter and subsequent cohabitation are generally treated with restraint, though a brief scene in which a bathing Billie offers a physically graphic sexual invitation to Dillinger, while it involves no nudity, is pretty blatant.

The bullets certainly fly, as they did in real life, but the violence never becomes excessive or gory. Rather, the focus remains on Dillinger's complex personality, as his relatively restrained use of force is contrasted to the bloodlust of sociopath "Baby Face" Nelson (Stephen Graham), with whom he only reluctantly allies himself.

Dillinger's code -- he refuses to be involved in kidnapping, shows courtesy to women and allows bank customers to keep their own money -- helped to fuel his perverse popularity, illustrated here as crowds cheer the handcuffed prisoner along the route to his short-lived final imprisonment.

Battling Dillinger for positive press that will boost his waning congressional support, Hoover distributes medals to youthful crime-stoppers for the benefit of the newsreels. Behind the scenes, Hoover pressures Purvis to resort to extreme measures, rounding up and harshly -- even brutally -- questioning not only Dillinger's criminal associates, but presumably innocent friends and family members.

Though Purvis initially complies -- preventing a doctor from administering anesthesia to a wounded man, then standing by as an underling cruelly gouges the wound -- he eventually comes to abhor such methods.

Performances are solid across the board, with Depp eschewing the flamboyance of Jack Sparrow and demonic barber Sweeney Todd for a commanding turn as the archetypal American gangster Dillinger. Cotillard, in her first role since her Oscar-winning portrayal of Edith Piaf in "La Vie En Rose," proves completely adept as Dillinger's love, American accent and all. Bale makes a formidable adversary, his frustration palpable with Dillinger's every evasion, but Depp carries the film.

Sometimes in the swelling of Elliot Goldenthal's refulgent score, the dialogue is difficult to hear, and -- with all the dark suits, fedoras and indistinguishable '30s cars -- it's often hard to tell the G-men from the gangsters.

From a moral standpoint Dillinger is depicted all too sympathetically. As with most films of this genre, you're tempted to root for the bad guy. Still, we do see "Pretty Boy" Floyd and the various members of Dillinger's gang meet grisly ends, so retribution is certainly forthcoming.

Period trappings are fine, but the widescreen color images do undercut our indelible impression of black-and-white 1930s' grittiness such as we see, tantalizingly, in a few choice scenes from the MGM gangster film "Manhattan Melodrama," the movie Dillinger watched just before meeting his bullet-ridden end.

Director and co-writer (with Ronan Bennett and Ann Biderman) Michael Mann's sleek chronicle is adapted from journalist Bryan Burrough's 2004 history, "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34."

Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

• A-I -- general patronage;
• A-II -- adults and adolescents;
• A-III -- adults;
• A-IV**
• L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
• O -- morally offensive.
  

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