Mesrine: Part II - Public Enemy 1

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Alain E @AlainE 05/08/2025 Including Part I. Absorbing biopic without a lesson to learn. Mesrine is a character with few moral convictions. He stays loyal to his parents, a couple girlfriends and some of his criminal associates. The rest of the world doesn’t concern him much. He is a talented gangster and able to escape from most prisons. In the end the French police treats him with the same currency however, they carefully avoid injuring his companion and seek help for her little dog. Their American colleagues would have sprayed enough bullets to anyone in the vicinity and call it a day. Advantage U-S-A! See more Ola G @Ollie1972 02/12/2023 This is the story of the notorious French gangster Jacques Mesrine (Vincent Cassel), with the focus on his life and death as France's Public Enemy No. 1 in the 1970s. The first part was found "undeniably uneven, but Vincent Cassel's electrifying performance makes Mesrine: Killer Instinct a gangster biopic worth seeking out. " Meanwhile, the second one also put emphasis on the lead actor's performance: "Vincent Cassel is mesmerizing in the lead role. Even if it's less focused than its predecessor, it's more fun." Mesrine Public Enemy Number One neared 2 million in admissions after four weeks of release. In his review for The New York Times, Stephen Holden wrote that Mesrine "makes for continuously riveting, visceral entertainment that evokes a Gallic Scarface without the drugs. ... Mr. Cassel's monumental performance fuses the cobralike menace of the young Robert Mitchum with the whipsaw, shape-shifting (from wiry to bulbous) volatility of classic Robert De Niro, and lightens it with a cat burglar's grace and agility." To me this is yet another glorification of an evil, misogynic, larger than life psychopathic gangster that thinks he can do whatever he wants. The fascination of criminals and their thug life has become a nuisance over the years. It´s tiring to see evil men, as that is the often the case, being portrayed and glorified on the silver screen. Jacques Mesrine got what he deserved in the end, in a shower of bullets. Vincent Cassel is always good, particularly when he works in his native tongue, and the production value is high. But, I personally dont´care about this sort of gangster portrayal these days. See more 10/19/2014 An excessive and fascinating character is way more than a first-rated mobster film! See more 07/13/2014 ...the second part of a riveting story that defines craftsmanship in filmmaking and defines what it means to deliver an epic. See more 05/31/2014 Just as good as Part 1 Killer Instinct See more 04/28/2014 Part 2 of the life and times of French career criminal Jacques Mesrine, with director Jean-François Richet and producer Thomas Langmann back to direct the second part. This one, unlike the first part which went to Canada and America, is set entirely in Mesrine's native France and focuses on his later days in the 1970's. It's longer and more verbal than Part 1, but it's still good. After his exploits in Canada, Jacques Mesrine (Vincent Cassel) returns to France in 1972, and has become a notorious figure in the world of organised crime and spends most of his time robbing banks. But, in 1973, he ends up being put on trial, but he manages to escape again, and goes underground before he's found and arrested by Commissioner Broussard (Olivier Gourmet). Mesrine ends up being sentences to 20 years in prison, but he manages to escape from La Santé Prison with fellow prisoner François Besse (Mathieu Amalric), both dressed as prison officers, and they escape into the French countryside as fugitives. It's a very good drama, although it is different in tone from the first film, and it does tend to slow down every now and again throughout the film, but Cassel is very compelling as Mesrine, who we the viewer have to accept as our anti-hero, but it is well filmed and has some good moments of suspenseful action throughout. See more Read all reviews

Mesrine: Part II - Public Enemy 1

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