By David P. Hines

For The Herald Bulletin

ANDERSON — When attending a new film directed by a filmmaker whose work is well-known and universally touted, it is nearly impossible not to compare that shiny new product to past craftsmanship.

Michael Mann has helmed such well-reviewed films as “The Last of the Mohicans,” “Heat, “The Insider,” “Ali” and “Collateral.” His new movie about the final days of John Dillinger and his gang, aptly titled “Public Enemies,” draws comparisons to earlier films.

His knack for effective use of handheld, digital camerawork, his fascination with thunderously loud and realistic gunplay, and his extreme talent for staging action sequences are all apparent. What differs from his earlier films, however, is his approach to character development and study.

Although Johnny Depp (playing the infamous bank robber) is his usual entertaining self, he chooses to portray Dillinger as a self-consciously cool character, which creates a distance in the viewer. Countless interviews with those who witnessed Dillinger’s robberies claimed he was earthy and personable.

Also strange is the film’s portrayal of FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), the man personally in charge of bringing down Dillinger. Bale’s natural star power coupled with Mann’s history of exploring and blurring the line between good guys and bad guys nearly guarantees such an approach to a film with this real-life subject matter.

Instead, Bale is only allowed to play Purvis in scenes that involve the character shooting at Dillinger, talking to Dillinger, or talking about Dillinger to other cops in FBI offices. Bale’s best acting comes when he is being razzed by J. Edgar Hoover for not having caught Dillinger yet, and he is allowed to sweat and look a little worried.

While many of the images sizzle, much of the dialogue fizzles, particularly Depp’s, whose lines seem to be written by screenwriters with an advantaged, skewed knowledge of how Dillinger liked to live and speak.

When Dillinger’s girlfriend, Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) tells him that her mother is Native American and that “most men don’t like that,” Dillinger responds “I ain’t most men.” When Frechette asks him if he has been living in a hotel long, he responds “Yeah, since yesterday.” Many of Depp’s lines sound like this. His dialogue, in fact, seems more suited for a two minute theatrical preview rather than a film that runs nearly two-and-a-half hours. The screenwriters have created a historical caricature, rather than a living, breathing human being.

Hoosiers attending the film in hopes of finding their native state playing an important role may be sorely disappointed.

The film does open with Dillinger’s daring escape from the Indiana State Penitentiary in Michigan City, and there are plenty of mentions of towns, including Mooresville, where he lived in his teenage years, and his looting of $74,000 from a Greencastle bank.

There is no mention of Daleville, scene of a July 1933 robbery. The former Daleville Commerical Bank was recently torn down and nothing remains of the locally historic site.

The state, it seems, acts as more of a past life of Dillinger’s, a place he no longer desires to visit or even think about. One line in particular – “I have absolutely nothing I want to do in Indiana” – did garner some chuckles from the audience, though it summed up Indiana’s involvement all too dismissively.

Those moviegoers seeking a well-made action movie with intelligent and confidently executed shootout sequences should look no further than Public Enemies. Fans of Michael Mann’s past films that dealt with vast character development in crime drama settings, however, might just be a little let down.