Rating: R
Genre:
Crime
Theatrical Release: 07/01/2009(USA)
Release Date: 12/08/2009
SubTitles: French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French/Espanol
Sound: DD2/DD5.1
Run Time: 140 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Profanity
Distributor/Studio: Universal Studios
Based on author
Bryan Burrough's ambitious tome
Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-43, director
Michael Mann's sprawling historical
crime drama follows the efforts of top FBI agent
Melvin Purvis (
Christian Bale ) in capturing notorious bank robber
John Dillinger. A folk hero to the American public thanks to his penchant for robbing the banks that many people believed responsible for the Great Depression, charming bandit
Dillinger (
Johnny Depp) was virtually unstoppable at the height of his criminal career; no jail could hold him, and his exploits endeared him to the common people while making headlines across the country.
J. Edgar Hoover's (
Billy Crudup) FBI was just coming into formation, and what better way for the ambitious lawman to transform his fledgling Bureau of Investigation into a national police force than to capture the gang that always gets away? Determined to bust
Dillinger and his crew, which also included sociopathic
Baby Face Nelson (
Stephen Graham) and
Alvin Karpis (
Giovanni Ribisi),
Hoover christened
Dillinger the country's very first Public Enemy Number One, and unleashed
Purvis to take them down by whatever means necessary. But
Purvis underestimated
Dillinger's ingenuity as a master criminal, and after embarking on a frantic series of chases and shoot-outs, the dashing agent humbly surmised that he was in over his head. Outwitted and outgunned,
Purvis knew that his only hope for busting
Dillinger's gang was to baptize a crew of Western ex-lawmen as official agents, and orchestrate a series of betrayals so cunning that even America's criminal mastermind wouldn't know what hit him.
Marion Cotillard,
Channing Tatum, and
Stephen Dorff co-star.
~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
;)
