This movie...is what it is. It's worth watching, but it's not going to have much of a following, I don't think.
The reviews are mostly spot on. PUBLIC ENEMIES is an entertaining, engaging movie, but it's not great, and certainly not brilliant overall, though it has moments of greatness in it.
The script is pretty average, with as many awkward and oddly placed lines as good ones, and few truly memorable moments that weren't already in the trailer. Even Depp can't make some of them work right. The story is very basic historical stuff, very scene to scene, with no real revelations or interesting angles on the Dillinger saga. It feels like we've seen it before, many times, but it does have a somewhat personal feel to it as well. The love story however, is thin, at best, and while the actors do their best to sell it, and look good together, there's not much chemistry between them during their interactions, and it doesn't quite work. There's very little in the way of characterization or development in this movie, which is obviously not the point of it. While it's nice to see a director use mostly subtle, quiet, reflective moments used to flesh out ideas, such as the theatre scene...there's just not enough of that to compel.
Love Dillinger's lawyer. One of the best I've seen on film.
The jailbreaks have this great "here we go again" quality to them. Like it's just something that has to be done to move forward with life, not some dramatic sequence. Love "That was a fake gun, wasn't it?"
The gunfights are good. The gunfights are very good, and shot incredibly well. The forest scene is very well done, and over too soon. The deaths are also done well, with Baby Face Nelson's standing out, but Dillinger's final partner Red definitely stole the show with his few lines and rushed but effective death sequence.
I wasn't thrilled with the slo mo bullet through the head for Dillinger's death. After the buildup, and the tone of the rest of the movie, it just didn't feel right to have slow-motion blood everywhere. Winstead matter-of-factly delivering Dillinger's last words was a nice touch.
Production design, cinematography and visuals are fantastic, and the camera work is usually good, with a few missteps.
The music was great. One of the better scores I've heard this year in a major film. Even the period songs worked, and the use of "Bye Bye Blackbird" was appreciated.
Johnny Depp is good as John Dillinger. He has a quiet charisma that never quite overpowers, but that works nonetheless. The scene where he strolls through the Detective Bureau is classic, and suggests loudly that he knows what's in store for him, and wants it.
Christian Bale is okay as Melvin Purvis. He's not great. He holds his accent most of the time, occassionally losing it, but to be fair, he's decent with what he has to work with, which isn't much. There seemed to be a lot of close close ups on him, which made up for his relative lack of emoting most of the time. There were a lot of just static shots on his face, and he wasn't acting with his eyes, he wasn't doing anything. He's decent, though, I guess. He never stumbles during the performance, and is fairly convincing.
Crudup's J Edgar Hooover is absolutely fantastic. Easily the best performance in the film. He nails it. Just enough "overblown legend" and real person mixed together, and I wish there had been more of him.
Marion Cotillard, save for a single scene when she's beaten (when her dialogue doesn't match her physical acting), suffers from the same kind of thing that Bale does. She looks like a movie star, but doesn't exactly wow with her performance.
There are some great moments in this movie to be sure, and it would serve as a fairly interesting introduction to the story of Dillinger and Purvis to someone who doesn't know the details. This movie isn't about delving into the past, though, it's about building atmosphere and humanizing an infamous legend without diminishing him, and it does accomplish that, but I can't help but wish someone took a little deeper look at the material, if not the characters themselves.
. Don't get me wrong, he was good, but really was no badass. Christian Bale, on the other hand, I was surprised with in a good way. Much more badass than I was expecting. He was kind of subtle, but very entertaining whenever we saw him. Which he actually was in the movie more than I was expecting as well. 
