Christian Bale's $214M True-Crime Epic Officially Lands on Netflix

Christian Bale is a chameleonic actor, and he's more than capable of portraying men who are very good at their jobs, even if those jobs involve dressing like a giant bat. But he's also a serious actor, and while he was making his name as Batman, he was also making another crime thriller that saw him swap Gotham City for the Great Depression era in America. Throw in a director of the caliber of Michael Mann and one of the most notorious bank robbers in American history, and you've got a movie that deserves considerably more attention than it usually gets.

That movie is Public Enemies, which is now streaming on Netflix. It tells the story of legendary Depression-era outlaw John Dillinger, the charismatic bank robber whose lightning raids made him the number one target of J. Edgar Hoover's fledgling FBI and its top agent, Melvin Purvis, and a folk hero to much of the downtrodden public. No one could stop Dillinger and his gang. No jail could hold him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyone, from his girlfriend Billie Frechette to the American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression. But while the adventures of Dillinger's gang thrilled many, Hoover 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 and sent in Purvis, the dashing "Clark Gable of the FBI."

Who Stars in 'Public Enemies'?

The cast is led by Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean) as John Dillinger and Bale (The Dark Knight) as Melvin Purvis, alongside Marion Cotillard (Inception) as Billie Frechette, Billy Crudup (The Morning Show) as J. Edgar Hoover, Stephen Dorff (Blade) as Homer Van Meter, Giovanni Ribisi (Avatar) as Alvin Karpis, Jason Clarke (Oppenheimer) as Red Hamilton and David Wenham (The Lord of the Rings) as Harry Pierpont.

Public Enemies opened with approximately $25.3 million domestically over its traditional three-day opening weekend, eventually earning $97.1 million in North America and $117 million internationally, bringing its worldwide total to around $214.1 million against a reported $100 million production budget. The movie received a generally positive response from critics, earning 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, alongside a 59% audience score.

Public Enemies is streaming on Netflix.