There’s something about a pedigreed failure. On the one hand, you find things to admire, maybe even love — in a strong performance by a fine actor, in the vision of a strong director — even as the movie leaves you cold. But on the other hand, the potential for greatness, given those ingredients, makes you even more upset when things don’t come together.

I go into The Proposal expecting something far from perfect and I’m able to walk out having enjoyed the parts that clicked. I go into Public Enemies expecting greatness. And it’s a lot of things, but it sure ain’t great.

Michael Mann is one of those directors with a big cult following that thinks everything he does is genius. I’m no stranger to cult followings (I’m a card-carrying member of the Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson and Pixar cults, among others) but I’ve never understood the blind admiration of Mann. Sure, he’s made some fine films (Manhunter, Heat and The Insider being the best of them) but his work is often deeply flawed. Yet I’ve seen people on the Web claim with a straight face that Miami Vice was their favorite film of 2006. Go figure.

Mann is definitely a stellar visual director. His films always look good, and he has a painter’s eye for framing and composition. His move to digital cameras a few years back has resulted in some beautiful work and furthered the technological revolution that’s transforming cinema. Film purists who view digital cameras as evil will find it hard to argue with the artistic accomplishments of Mann and cinematographer Dante Spinotti.

He is also a fine director of actors with a gift for effective casting. Every actor in Public Enemies does a fabulous job, Johnny Depp leading the way with a quietly powerful performance as Dillinger. This isn’t a showy performance at all — if anything, it goes too far in the other direction. Depp is remarkably contained; the performance takes place mostly in his eyes. Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard is effective as Dillinger’s girlfriend, particularly late in the film when she gets a chance to shine. And Christian Bale is solid as always in his portrayal of lawman Melvin Purvis. I admire his lack of ego in taking the straight roles against commanding lead actors such as Depp here and Russell Crowe in 3:10 to Yuma.

So that’s what’s good about the film. What’s bad? Just about everything else.

A film’s success almost always boils down to story and script and that is where Mann the co-writer has let down Mann the director. Despite a running time of more than 2 1/2 hours, very little happens in this film. A series of bank robberies and prison breaks mark time, and they are admirably executed, but the connective tissue is flimsy. I left with no better understanding of John Dillinger than I had when I walked in, no sense of where he came from or why he did what he did. A recurring theme about the blurred line separating the good guys from the bad — par for the course in films like this — doesn’t go anywhere interesting.

What you get is a series of scenes depicting important events over the last few years of Dillinger’s life, with a little romance thrown in to the mix. But apart from the strong visual palette, the film doesn’t make an argument for its existence. What’s the vision here? A better-looking episode of an A&E Biography episode titled ‘Dillinger’s Last Days’?

The film Public Enemies most reminds me of is 2007’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. That film, too, chronicled the final years of a charismatic outlaw and the pursuit of him by knights not worthy of shining armor. And it was visually stunning, a true work of art. But it was also emotionally resonant and thought-provoking, the kind of film that sticks with you for a long time. Jesse James has only grown in my estimation in the year or so since I watched it.

A day after leaving the theater, I’ve already forgotten much of Public Enemies.