I saw Public Enemies a couple of days ago.
Firstly, just let me say, I'm an unbelievable fan of Michael Mann; however, his recent work has generally underwhelmed me. That being said, I thought Public Enemies was very good, at times even thrilling and provocative, but ultimately it fell well short of greatness. I thought the primary reason the movie wasn't successful was character development, particularly when it comes to Christian Bale's FBI agent Melvin Purvis, the special agent leading the hunt for John Dillenger. Bale is an exceptional actor, and indeed he performs competently in this role, but his character is little more than a steely-eyed, tommy gun wielding automaton. Although Johnny Depp's performance is somewhat more interesting, even it is underdeveloped.
The best performance in the film comes from Academy Award winner Marion Cottilard, who plays Johnny Dillenger's girlfriend, and I wouldn't be surprised if she was nominated for an academy award for it.
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