Review of Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 (2008) by John T — 16 Jun 2011

I have really enjoyed this double feature about France's most notorious gangster and to be fair the second film is pretty much more of the same as we see in the first , but the most overriding feeling I get from the second part of Jacques Mesrine's story is how incompetent the French authorities really were . From the Court officials , to the Prison staff all the way to the police force , all seem to be a thick as two short planks and there was me thinking that the great Inspector Jack Clouseau was fictional!

The incredible and brutal story of Jacques Mesrine continues in this second film. Now back in France, Mesrine is finally in police custody and facing justice for his crimes but he is soon on the run once again. After escaping a courtroom and kidnapping the judge at gunpoint, Mesrine is declared Public Enemy Number One and finds an adversary in his chief and most dogged pursuer, Commander Broussard. Broussard soon corners Mesrine who is condemned to a maximum security prison where he writes his first memoirs, establishing himself as a household name and anti-hero across France. With fellow inmate Francois Besse he stages another daring escape and disappears into the lawless underworld, taunting the police and reinventing himself as a celebrity criminal through his savvy manipulation of the media. After such a monumental rise, comes the inevitable fall as Broussard closes in, bringing the life of Jacques Mesrine to full bloody circle.

You get the impression that Mesrine was either very clever or incredibly lucky throughout his underworld life and I get the feeling from these films that it's the latter. To come up against such incompetent prison guards and police force must have made his laugh his socks off . How could a man escape from prison four times?

I loved Vincent Cassel portrayal of Mesrine and I thoroughly enjoyed his extravagant performance.

To be honest this story does not need two separate movies . There are some scenes that are unnecessary and I think that watching two movies might put people off so I do hope they digest the two films into one at some stage but overall I found watching both movies a pleasure.

8 out of 10.