The thing I like about Tim Burton movies, especially his movies made from books, is that he gives you 80% of what you're expecting, and 20% of something you're completely not, and somehow melds that into a really really good movie... and for the first half of this one, I'd thought I'd found an exception.

This movie is quite slow in the windup.  Thank God he assumes that we know most of the characters from the original book, for it saves us the tedium of all the introductions.

Public Enemy is loosely the story of John Dillinger, a bank robber so prolific he single-handedly prompted the creation of the modern FBI and the first interstate crime laws. He was charming, good to the people, loved his girlfriend, and stuck to a specific code of honor. At least, that's what the movie producers thought of him.