The Sad Beauty of Michael Mann’s Public Enemies
I just wanted to alert everyone to a review I’ve posted at DVD Times of Public Enemies. I’m eager to call it the best film of the year thus far, though take my opinion with the knowledge that I also completely love Michael Mann’s previous film Miami Vice. Ultimately, better men than me will have to determine which is the superior film, but I am inclined to declare both as vying to be Mann’s best. The restraint and maturity to limit the violence only to what is absolutely necessary really plays well in Public Enemies. Its “R” rating probably comes from a bit of blood and some violence, but is otherwise almost comical and a further indication that the MPAA labels adult-oriented movies (like Wendy and Lucy last year or even The Royal Tenenbaums earlier in the decade) with a different standard than more upbeat, jovially bloody fare.
Looking ahead to what’s still in store for 2009, it’s highly possible that I won’t encounter a better film this year. The decision by Universal to throw Mann’s movie into the public dogfight that is the summer blockbuster season might seem odd, but admirers should be grateful we have something fully satisfying and emotional to compete against talking robots, crude comedy and cartoons. And hey, with ten nominees set for the Best Picture category, there’s a real possibility Public Enemies could muster enough support to make the cut.
Myself and a couple of friends all recently saw DILLINGER by John Milius and agreed we liked it better than PUBLIC ENEMIES.
We felt Warren Oates really owns that roll and we liked the Grindhouse / Cormanesque quality, which better served the story, than Mann’s cleaner style. We also felt it was tighter and just better storytelling. Also the bad guy/ cop relationship between Oates and Ben Johnson is a bit stronger - Johnson has much more gravitas than Christian Bale. I will concede the ending of PUBLIC ENEMIES is better and more poetic and the nighttime shootout in the forest is terrific. But overall, I have to say I have appreciation for DILLINGER a little more.
I think I’ve only seen bits of that Dillinger, but I was already planning to watch it fairly soon given the increased interest in that story. Comparing isn’t for me, though, because it reduces Mann’s film to a Dillinger bio when I don’t think that’s the point exactly. He tried that route already with Ali and you just can’t take someone with that degree of celebrity and expect to offer any insight when so much has to be covered. Public Enemies has more ambition. It wants to draw a circle around Dillinger and gradually move in, beyond just the myth and the known story, to both make him representative of something larger (the celebrity criminals that fascinated the public) and of a more narrow bit of humanizing where he’s a slightly tortured soul who’s found a match in Billie. I can see how some of the sprawling nature of the film has lead others to find it unfocused, but that’s just Mann. All of his movies are like that and they hold up remarkably well on multiple viewings. That looser form of storytelling is one of his big strengths in my eyes.