Film Review : Mesrine - Public Enemy No 1

I've previously extolled the many virtues of the film which formed the first part of this series. Everything that was present and correct in the first film is similarly so on the follow-up. Nevertheless, it is still a very different movie.

Picking up from where Killer Instinct left off (and making no allowances for those who haven't seen it) it soons become clear that the break in the story made necessary by having to tell it over two movies marks the apogee of Mesrine's career. This movie follow's Mesrine through his last decade to his inevitable demise (and no spoiler there as his ultimate fate was laid out clearly in the opening scene of the first movie - and the aftermath of which is visited here in the opening scene again).

After spending some years in prison Mesrine springs another headline grabbing escape with a new partner. The difference is that now he is a little too taken with his own self-image and the headlines he generates. This comes across humourously in his frequent corrections to the way his name is pronounced, to his tantrums when other crimes or atrocities keep him from centre stage.

His self-delusion leads him to believe he is fighting for the overthrow of the system, and this leads him to other routes and opportunities to create his mayhem.

Of course, whilst this is going on the police are running short of patience and the seeming inability of France to hold him in any of their jails, leads them to forget the finer points of policing in their efforts to stop him.

I'd like to be able to watch the two films back to back. It's a story that would be worth seeing in total but, equally, the two halves to tell a different tale of this fascinating French criminal.

Film Review : Mesrine - Killer Instinct

There's just something about a movie that gets involved with the criminal underclass that helps to ensure that each generation throws up more than its share of classics. From Bonnie & Clyde to The Godfather through to Goodfellas, Scarface to more melancholic fare like Donnie Brasco the whole subject lives in an utterly ambiguous world where you're equally attracted to the romanticism of the lifestlye, the thrills of being on the edge and, ultimately, disgusted (but perhaps not enough) at the sheer disregard of consequences for others that such a lifestyle entails.

The good news is that this film which is the first part of a double header about legendary French criminal Jaques Mesrine looks more than capable of finding itself recalled alongside the best films of this genre.

Featuring the excellent Vincent Cassell in the title role (and he has to be excellent to allow me to forgive him for being the husband of Monica Belluci!) the film traces the journey of Mesrine as a man who fought in Algeria and who subsequently used both his skills and his bottle to develop a reckless and fearsome life of crime involving daring bank raids, audacious jailbreaks, travels into Canadian exile and a developing love of the reputation he gains along the way.

Also featured is French movie icon Gerard Depardieu as the local "godfather" under whose tutelage Mesrine builds his reputation and who ultimately contributes to his mentors' inevitable demise.

Having subsequently investigated some of the real Mesrine's exploits the film does appear to break at an appropriate point. However, it is very much Part 1 of the story - the film doesn't really make any concessions to trying to stand up on it's own account (like, for examples, Stephen Soderbergh's two films on key parts of the life and legend of Che Guevara).

The next part is due out on 21 August and I am really looking forward to seeing the conclusion - if it maintains the exceptionally high standard of this first part then its' recognition as a classic is all but assured.