Public Enemies (2009)

I have never been the biggest fan of gangster movies. Some are decent enough, I guess it's just that I'm not that interested in the criminal thug being the hero. Those movies that I do like, the gangsters are portrayed as people who are like anybody else, just killier. I thin a lot of them probably were horrible people, and I think a lot of the enforcement who chased them and fought them were probably just as bad. Goodfellas is a great example of a good gangster movie, because while you might like some of the badguys, they never try and make them seem like something they're not.
I don't know that much about John Dillinger or Melvin Purvis, but I do know that I like watching Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. And knowing these two and the look of the film, I'm guessing that it's based more than a little in the true events of these two men. But, it's still a bit time Hollywood movie. I suspect that while Dillinger was living it large in '33, that the city of Chicago was a lot grimier place than portrayed. I also suspect that the men involved on both sides were as well. This movie is far too clean and crisp. And while I expect and accept the stars of a movie to be attractive even if the person they're portraying isn't, I would be very surprised if everyone in the Chicago mob scene was as attractive as portrayed in this flick.
Ultimately it comes down to caring about the characters, and that was hard to do in this film. Even when the whole mess goes tits up for Dillinger, I found myself not caring. There are some scenes were Depp is on fire, but mostly he's just some guy who looks and sounds like Johnny Depp but is otherwise uninspiring. From this cast I expected a better film.

Public Enemies on IMDb