UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

ElMaruecan82 The film opens in November 1979, Jacques Mesrine (Vincent Cassel) and his girlfriend (Ludivine Sagnier) leave their apartment. Mesrine drives past the street where he was born; not any omen to detect here, a fun coincidence at the least. His instinct fails him again when he makes way to a big truck that immediately forces him to stop. Mesrine's usually acute sense of danger is again off. It is ironic that the man who's been so attentive to his destiny couldn't see the alarming signs of the last stand-off. His luck was to change and so was his status from a living to a dead legend… still, a legend.But like frozen by some divine intuition, Mesrine seems to realize what is bound to happen, like Sonny Corleone in "The Godfather" discovering the ambush from the toll booth. He sees the girl's Yorkshire bark at the truck, and then a firing squad (literally) aiming at him, he bulges his eyes and for the first (and maybe only) time, there is fear in his eyes, now that he met his fate, he's finally relieved from the macho pressure and can look as weak and frail as a beast cornered by the hunter. So, the manhunt ceases with the girl's scream and gunshots heard while the image fades out. The two-part gangster biopic of "Public Enemy number 1" and criminal legend Mesrine can start.And starting with the death isn't just some artistic license from director Jean-François Richet; it allows the viewers to understand why Police didn't take any chances. It is an execution in the same cold-blooded vein than the one that ended the run of Bonnie and Clyde. Indeed, during a career that spanned almost two decades, Mesrine robbed properties, casinos and banks, kidnapped people, operated in France, Canada and Spanish islands and even jail couldn't stop him as he revealed to be a real Houdini at four separate occasions. This is not any criminal; this is 'LE' criminal, one whose record has seldom been matched, not even by American legends. The risk of such reputations is to appeal the wrong way, we can despise crime while admiring Mesrine to be a sort of self-made-man who lived the kind of turbulent lives many beta males wished to get a taste from.And Cassel's performance is integral to this appeal that is not devoid of sexual innuendo, the risk of seeing him as a "goodfella" (Scorsese wise) is inevitable. Cassel oozes masculine charisma, with a mix of tough and gentle manners that resurrect the time of a film Robert Mitchum, he embodies in his acting this notion that great men (in terms of historical magnitude) believe in destiny and behave accordingly so. This is a guy raised in a bourgeois wealthy family with a submissive father who worked in Germany and could never take a decision without saying "your mom and I". He got his son a comfortable position in a lace factory (of all the jobs) but 'Jackie' has other plans: he's an Algerian War veteran, he pulled the trigger more than once in the name of hypocritical patriotism, and can't stand his father's submissiveness to castrating rules, he wished he could be proud of him at least once in a scene that echoes James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause". Jacquie was a born rebel.When he gets the 'call of the wild', Mesrine establishes himself as a true natural. He's a cocky and oddly persuasive son of a gun. During his first robbery, the house owners come but he keeps his cool and pretends to be a police officer. He is immediately introduced to Guido (Gérard Depardieu) a member of the anti-De Gaulle Secret Army, Guido grows fond on the kid and becomes his mentor, teaching him the value of respect, among many other things. And under his guidance, Mesrine makes his bones in a series of scenes that channel directors like Martin Scorsese, John Woo or Jean-Pierre Melville, without glamorizing him. Mesrine isn't just some gun-wielding womanizer, he is racist, he knifes an Arab mackerel and buries him alive and threatens his wife and mother of three children with a gun on her mouth, if she dares to call Police. It'll always be his buddies before her.And this virile allegiance sets the tone for the rest of the film that can be regarded as a series of robberies, shootouts and periods in jail, something that can be deemed as gangster routine in a 2008 film, but not with the revitalizing performance of Cassel, from beginning to end. The action scenes are top notch but never as fascinating as their effect on Mesrine's personality and his slow but inevitable descent into the crimes that don't get you jail sentences. This is the kind of performances that are severely overlooked by international awards, but it is in the same level of Oscar-worthy intensity than Marion Cotillard in "La Vie en Rose", there's not one second in the screen where you're not glued to Cassel and see in the expressive eyes, such mixed feelings of anger, pride, cockiness and hammy self-awareness. It is very revealing that the words he has for the Canadian press after his arrest, is "Long Live free Quebec" echoing De Gaulle's famous speech. Indeed, Mesrine, a born show-man, belonged to an era that forged larger-than-life characters like De Gaulle, it is only fitting that the criminal world had someone on the same dimension. There wouldn't be one like De Gaulle, and certainly not one like Mesrine.After all, isn't the movie adapted from a book he wrote himself? Mesrine cared enough to leave a legacy that he wrote it himself. That a film was adapted from it says it all, and that one movie wasn't enough to cover everything says even more about his magnitude, not just as an infamous gangster but as one of the most defining real-life figures of French recent history.

giorgiagray321 Ah, the French. Known for their intense thrillers that leave you jumping on the edge of your seats. The crash zooms, the guns, the artsy fartsy... anyway, back to Mesrine: Killer Instinct Pt. 1. I was impressed, it fulfilled my expectations of a crime thriller. It shocked me in some parts, it left me wanting more in others. I felt the characters (especially Mesrine's) were a bit dull, and didn't leave me feeling sympathetic or apathetic. I felt like I was a blank canvas being forced to watch a guy spilling his life out on screen. The story I felt was a little rushed; everything about this man's life was crammed together in 2 hours. It just wasn't enough time. I forgot about characters, I wondered about characters, I wondered why we were introduced to some at all, it didn't feel right. Yes, some aspects of the story were great and truly mesmerizing, but the film as a whole just didn't add to that. In terms of the production; cinematography was beautiful, abstract and a little more inviting. I felt like I was in a psychedelic world in some scenes. I don't want say this, but the film turned into a 'Taken' towards the end. It forgot about the story and spiraled out into this over the top, unnecessary ending. This is an entertaining film, but it's ego- tistical story isn't it's greatest point.

kluseba The two Mesrine movies are easily the best gangster movies of the last years and can without a doubt be described as the French Godfathers even though the two films have not exactly the same class as the legendary masterpieces.The thing that is really interesting about this movie is that it is told after true events and partially based on the autobiography of the French gangster and public enemy number one Jacques Mesrine. The movie makes very clear that one can't develop much sympathy for the character but his radical way of life, his brutal honesty and his strong and dangerous emotions surely create a very addicting, explosive and unique character.The first movie tells his life from his actions during the Algerian War up to his escape from a prison in Quebec.The character is introduced in a very interesting way. One witnesses his first theft, his first murder as well as his first escapes from prison but also how he gets into the crime scene, how he gets to know his second wife and how he gets along as his role as a father of three children with her. Mesrine always chooses the craziest, most radical and often most selfish way to escape from his problems. This movie is not just a gangster saga filled with action and tension but has also an emotional touch of the drama genre and some dark and sarcastic humour.Mesrine is perfectly portrayed by one of the best contemporary actors coming from France which is Vincent Cassel. Roy Dupuis plays the very charismatic Canadian terrorist and Mesrine's âme soeur Jean-Paul Mercier. The French acting crème de la crème appears in this first part of the legacy. Cécile de France plays Mesrine's future girlfriend and partner in crime that finally decides to chose the path of freedom and justice. Gérard Depardieu plays the intelligent gangster boss Guido. Ludivine Sagnier portrays Mesrine's latest girlfriend and excels in her role as a superficial blonde with fixations on a bourgeoisie lifestyle. The acting of this movie is really stunning and every actor plays his or her role close to perfection.The movie also discusses topics such as love, friendship, treason, loyalty, respect and more in a very intense way and how Mesrine feels about it. He is a very extreme personality and some of his actions contradict what he has already done or will do in the future and this shows how fragile this gangster really is.The greatness of this movie does not stop there. The part of the movie when Mesrine is put into a French Canadian prison is very intense. It is not only well filmed with interesting camera positions and cold, touching decorations but reminds me of legendary prison movies such as "Papillon" or "The Shawshank Redemption" and contains some well hidden but intense criticism. Mesrine's escape from prison eventually led to the closure of those inhuman French Canadian prisons and this movie shows us the way of life in this hell in a very intense way. The movie also slightly criticizes the corruptive justice and police in France as well as the way how the medias deal with Mesrine's fate and make an iconic modern Robin Hood out of a dangerous and ignorant gangster that begins to use the medias for his own good and enjoys the show.As you can see, the movie contains many different elements and details that make it a very diversified, intense and still entertaining gangster movie which happens to be one of the best of its kind. If you like "The Godfather", "Once Upon A Time In America", "Papillon" and "The Shawshank Redemption" you should definitely check this masterpiece out. If you happen to like this movie, you should absolutely try to get the German gangster and terrorist movie "Der Baader-Meinhof-Komplex" which is also based on true events and happened at the same time as Mesrine became the public enemy number one in France. The French movie has also some connections to those events as Mesrine talks from time to time about it as you should have noticed.In the end, this movie about an extreme and charismatic character is way more than an excellent gangster movie with some social criticism but a gripping two hours of history class.The only reason why I didn't give the highest possible note is that I would have liked to learn more about the youth of Mesrine. For example, the movie didn't show us his very first wife and how he quit her to go to the Algerian War. It didn't show us how he got honoured by the French government and military for his heroic actions during wartime. It didn't show us how he got caught the first time during a bank theft and how he dealt with it. Those little elements could have made the character even more intense, profound and interesting but a part of that, there is really nothing negative about this amazing movie.

Ben Larson There is little back story (Mesrine developed his cruelty in the Army), and there is no march to the head of the "family" as you would see in The Godfather.Jacques Mesrine (Vincent Cassel) was a robber and a killer. He tried being a family man, but it didn't work. His wife (Elena Anaya) couldn't compete with his friends.He hooks up with Jeanne Schneider (Cécile De France), they run to Quebec, where they both end up in prison. A Quebec prison is not where I would want to be! He breaks out and causes a lot more mayhem. We'll have to wait for Part II to see how it ends.