Sporting a uniformly strong cast, this epic crime drama from director Michael Mann makes a documentary-style fable out of the infamous moments in the short, sharp career of 1930s gangster John Dillinger (Johnny Depp). The sumptuous production design and vibrant natural lighting enhance the daring prison break-outs, well-planned bank robberies and doomed romance with hat-check girl Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) that lead to the fateful meeting outside Chicago's Biograph cinema with G-Man Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) and J Edgar Hoover's fledgeling FBI. More beautifully composed art house movie than popcorn crime thriller, Mann's take on the Depression-era Robin Hood encompasses both the philosophical contemplation of mortality and the creation of an icon. Directed with astute flair (the intimacy of digital video close-ups contrasting with technically dazzling machine-gun action) and fascinatingly detailed (the law grappling with its own nascent methods), this is freshly conceived myth-making on a grand scale, with the captivating Depp/Cotillard chemistry an added bonus.

Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger's charm and audacity endear him to much of America's downtrodden public, but he's also a thorn in the side of J. Edgar Hoover and the fledgling FBI. Desperate to capture the elusive outlaw, Hoover makes Dillinger his first Public Enemy Number One and assigns his top agent, Melvin Purvis, the task of bringing him in dead or alive.