Review of Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 (2008) by Ana A — 25 Aug 2010

Mesrine: Killer Instinct or L'instinct de mort as its known in French is a gallic crime thriller, a 'based on true events' gangster flick about notorious crook Jacques Mesrine. I say notorious, but I have to admit I'd never heard of him before. Having read nothing but positive reviews of this movie though, I thought I'd check it out.

Mesrine: Killer Instinct is the first part of 2 part tale about Meserine's criminal life. It starts with him as a young man in the French army during the French/Algerian conflict. Forced to take part in some horrific acts against local resistance fighters, the stage and skills are set for Jacque to leave these surroundings and pursue a life of crime.

On his return to Paris, he slowly picks up the threads of this new life, starting out small time and getting more and more daring as the movie spans the first part of his career, taking place through the 50's, 60's and 70's. Its a dark journey that sees Jacque Meserine grow in guile and progressing from petty thief, to murderer to all round heist expert. Its interesting to watch him evolve before the viewer leaving a a whirlwind of carnage, destruction and broken relationships in his wake.

There are definite similarities to the Godfather in the same way that we see Henry Hill age and self destruct so to does Meserine. Whilst its not on par with Goodfellas its still an enthralling journey and one that leaves you wanting more when the first part ends.....

Renowned French actor Vincent Cassel (husband to Monica Belluci) takes on the title role, very much making it his own whilst Gerard Depardieu plays the criminal tutor to his newfound prodigal son. They work well together and its great acting to watch as their relationship strengthens throughout the movie.

Hopefully the second part (which was filmed straight after so isn't really a proper sequel) can follow on where this left off and keep up the intensity. Overall, a dark and violent watch but one I've enjoyed so far and have no hesitation recommending.