Public Enemies Trailer Exposes Johnny Depp as a Badass

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on March 4, 2009

As if you needed further proof after his performance in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, here comes the trailer for Michael Mann’s Public Enemies with some full-on Johnny Depp as a badass action. Depp plays notorious crime figure John Dillinger, a man lived for knockin’ over banks, driving fast and sweeping dames off their feet. Christian Bale plays the other side of the coin, FBI Agent Melvin Purvis, the man tasked by J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) to put an end to Dillinger’s Robin Hood-esque shenanigans. Also starring in this powerhouse cast is Marion Cotillard, Oscar Winner last year for La Vie en Rose.

The trailer is below, courtesy of Apple.com (Where you can see it in HD). You don’t need me to tell you that it’s awesome. Public Enemies opens July 1, 2009.

Official Synopsis: In the action-thriller Public Enemies, acclaimed filmmaker Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Academy Award® winner Marion Cotillard in the story of legendary Depression-era outlaw John Dillinger (Depp)—the charismatic bank robber whose lightning raids made him the number one target of J. Edgar Hoover’s fledgling FBI and its top agent, Melvin Purvis (Bale), and a folk hero to much of the downtrodden public. No one could stop Dillinger and his gang. No jail could hold him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyone—from his girlfriend Billie Frechette (Cotillard) to an American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression. But while the adventures of Dillinger’s gang—later including the sociopathic Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham) and Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribisi)—thrilled many, Hoover (Billy Crudup) hit on the idea of exploiting the outlaw’s capture as a way to elevate his Bureau of Investigation into the national police force that became the FBI. He made Dillinger America’s first Public Enemy Number One and sent in Purvis, the dashing “Clark Gable of the FBI.” However, Dillinger and his gang outwitted and outgunned Purvis’ men in wild chases and shootouts. Only after importing a crew of Western ex-lawmen (newly baptized as agents) and orchestrating epic betrayals—from the infamous “Lady in Red” to the Chicago crime boss Frank Nitti—were Purvis, the FBI and their new crew of gunfighters able to close in on Dillinger.

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