At the Movies: Public Enemies/Pelham 123

In films such as Manhunter, Collateral and Heat, Michael Mann has shown us he can create tense crime thrillers that also work as solid character studies.

 So why doesn't his new movie, the John Dillinger semi-biopic Public Enemies, seem to work as either?

 As disappointing a movie as I've seen in a long time, Public Enemies boasts a great cast, immensely talented writer/director and an exciting subject matter.

 After spending the last few years playing a cartoony pirate, Willy Wonka and Sweeney Todd, Depp takes a low-key approach in portraying Dillinger, a decision that I think hurts the movie. We're supposed to believe that this was a guy who captured the American imagination, but it's hard to see how. Except for maybe one scene where Dillinger -- having just been captured -- gives a smart-ass press conference, the character doesn't generate much heat. He seems like a decent guy, but only when compared to characters like the psychotic Baby Face Nelson and the stodgy FBI man Mevlin Purvis, who's in charge of capturing Dillinger. 

 Christian Bale fares a little better as Purvis, mainly because he doesn't have to worry about being likable. His Purvis is both crusading and weak-willed, a believer in catching Dillinger using "modern" investigative techniques but also in over his head as a street cop. It's interesting: earlier this year, Bale had the lead role in a movie where he was upstaged by the guy who got second billing. In this, the equation is reversed.

 But not totally; although there were times where I thought the movie would have been more interesting if it had focused more on the cops than the crooks, this isn't Heat. The movie's action sequences -- save for a prison break scene midway through -- are dull and kind of muddy. The bank robberies are perhaps the most boring ever portrayed.

 (Incidentally, there was a lot of punditry earlier this year about how people would flock to this movie because it shows someone going after banks, and banks are our new bad guys. But Dillinger wasn't robbing Wachovia; he was ripping off small town banks in the days when FDIC was still a new concept. And the bankers here aren't villains; they're cardboard cutout hostages.)

 In the middle of all this is French actress Marion Cotillard as Billie Frechette, Dillinger's girlfriend. Their chemistry is non-existent, and we never really believe Billie would drop everything to run off with Dillinger. There's only two scenes in which we really care about her, and in which the movie generates any kind of emotion: one toward the end, where a piggish FBI agent tries to beat a confession out of her, and she defiantly -- and a bit sadly, considering what's about to come -- threatens him with what will happen when "her Johnny" finds out what happened to "his girl."

 I say sadly because Dillinger was killed soon after this. The other scene I was referring to is the final one. After Dillinger is dead, an FBI agent named Winstead (played by Mann veteran Stephen Lang) visits Billie in prison to say that Dillinger's final words were about her. Winstead was one of the men who shot Dillinger, but comes off like a decent and competent man; he'd also rescued Billie from the thug fed earlier in the movie, and appeared to have a better idea of how to capture Dillinger than Purvis. Too bad Public Enemies is based in fact; I'd much rather have watched a movie about him.

 Next to Public Enemies, Tony Scott's The Taking of Pelham 123 seems like a top-notch thriller. Next to the movie it's actually based on -- Joseph Sargent's 1974 film -- it seems awfully unnecessary. (Warning, spoilers are ahead.)

 The plot, if you're unfamiliar. A group of criminals hijack a subway car, demanding money in exchange for hostages. In 1974, it was a million dollars. Inflation and Austin Powers have made asking for that amount of money unrealistic, so in the new version, it's $19 million. (Plus there's a goofy -- and again, not really necessary -- Wall Street plot thrown in.)

 In 1974, the crooks wore dorky-but-cool disguises and had code names: Mr. Blue, Mr. Grey, Mr. Green and Mr. Brown. In 2009, Hollywood figures audiences will just say, "Aww, this is ripping off Reservoir Dogs," so have given the crooks no code names. Also, no real personalities.

 John Travolta does his Face/Off crazy routine, but doesn't come close to the cool menace generated by Robert Shaw. Luis Guzman -- who exits much too early -- is suitably prickly in the part originated by Martin Balsam. The other hijackers are nameless Eastern Euoropean thugs. At least the original one made one hijacker kind of a psycho (he was played by Hector Elizondo) andgave the other one (Earl Hindman, who played the faceless neighbor on Home Improvement) a stutter.

The guy negotiating for the passangers was played by Walter Matthau in the original and Denzel Washington here, and that's one place where the movie definitely works. It's not that the characters are the same; Matthau was a cranky cop, Washington is a demoted transit official. But in both cases, the movie gives us a likable character at the center of the movie.

 I said Matthau was cranky; the fact is, everyone in the original movie was cranky. The New York of 1974 was a far different place than the one of today. That's part of what made it work so well; you had these tired, burned out bureaucrats up, who seemed like they were only half doing their job, up against a well-planned heist.

 The original Pelham was like a lot of thrillers from its era: quick and efficient, no wasted time, no talking down to us. The new version doesn't exactly talk down, but it does make things too complicated. And bythe end, when the hijackers have their money and leave the train-- not caring whether the passengers crash -- it puts its hero in a goofy spot, having to chase down a man whom the police will almost certainly catch on their own. The only reason for this, I suspect, is because if you have Denzel as the hero of your movie, you better damn well have him pointing a gun at the bad guy at the end. Me, I'd rather have seen him try to stop the train rather than rescuing...what, the money? It wasn't all that heroic.

 Tom Coombe
 

Comments

[Chris Casey]

I enjoy your reviews Tom. I had high hopes for public enemy, and I won't see Pelham, I don't care for remakes.

[Tom Coombe]

I'm normally not a fan of them either, but I was so keen on the first Pelham that I wanted to see what another version would look like.

There have been some good remakes...although I'm struggling to come up with many examples beyond the 2004 version of "Dawn of the Dead."

[Chris Casey]

Actually, I thought "Shawn of the dead" the British Spoof was damn hilarious

[Tom]

If you like that, check out "Spaced," the TV show created by those guys. It's one of the funniest sitcoms ever.

[Sabeen]

Godfather type movie. I like in this genre of movies. Johnny Depp is my Favorite actor. Thanks.