Empire Magazine has recently posted the first photos from Public Enemies, set for release July 3, 2009, directed by Michael Mann, and starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger and Christian Bale as FBI man Melvin Purvis. The post says the film is sort of "Heat Part II," to which I say, freakin' fantastic. Anything that's closer in vein to Mann's classic Pacino-DeNiro crime thriller, this time set in the tommy gun period from 1933 - 1943, sounds a lot better than the more contemporary, geriatric pairing of those stars in Righteous Kill. Depp and Bale are new generation actors in the absolute prime of their careers as artists and bona fide movie stars, so this should be lightning in a bottle. The first shots are tough and stylish, and the secondary cast, including Marion Cotillard as Dillinger's girlfriend and Billy Crudup as J. Edgar Hoover, is just as enticing as the headliners. Don't be surprised if this one gives Bale's other high-profile summer actioner - McG's Terminator Salvation - a run for its money.
