Summer Action Heroes: Johnny Depp

It's been over twelve months since Johnny Depp graced the big screen, in Sweeney Todd if you are curious, and two year since we saw him in an exciting summer flick.

And it's a change of pace from Pirates, which really did the business at the box office despite mixed reviews, this time around as he takes on the role of real-life criminal John Dillinger.

Directed by Heat filmmaker Michael Mann Public Enemies follows the FBI's man hunt for John Dillinger, the legendary Depression era bank robber.

No one could stop Dillinger. 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 ganglater including the sociopathic Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham) 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. Hoover 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) who were real gunfighters and orchestrating epic betrayals from the infamous "Lady in Red" to the Chicago crime boss Frank Nittiwere Purvis and the FBI able to close in on Dillinger.

But to the people of America he was a hero, a modern day Robin Hood.

The film hasn't even been released into cinemas yet and there are already whispers of Oscar success surrounding this movie, could Depp finally get his hands on a Best Actor gong?

While the movie isn't in the vein of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Star Trek or X-Men Origins: Wolverine it still remains one of the most highly anticipated movies of the summer.

Michael Mann is behind the camera and he brought us the cop and robber classic Heat, which starred Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.

Public Enemies is released 3rd July

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw