This is an enjoyable thriller based on the first part of the real life of French gangster Jacques Mesrine. Mesrine is played with real menace by Vincent Cassel. We see him first in the French army during the very dirty Algerian War of Independence. Back in France after the war he turns to old criminal friends when he needs money and finds he is a natural. He comes under the wing of a local crime boss (Depardieu). I enjoyed these scenes showing the gritty French criminal underworld. We also see Mesrine as a charmer with the ladies. He marries a Spanish girl who stays with him as long as she can when she realises he is a criminal. However he eventually makes it very clear that he will choose his criminal friends over her every time. We see in graphic detail how brutal and ruthless Mesrine was and had to be to survive and rise up this world. After a spell in prison he ends up having to flee France for Montreal after making too many enemies.
Here the pace of the film changes. The director seems to feel as if he has to make use of the wide open spaces of the New World and the film becomes more of an action thriller rather than a gritty drama. Mesrine and his girlfriend kidnap a former employer and then go on the run. They are caught in Monument Valley, which makes for great visuals but seems unlikely. Back in prison Mesrine and an accomplice break out of a (supposedly) top security prison and start robbing banks. They even go back to the prison to try and help their friends escape. Wild car chases and shootouts ensue. At this stage I thought we were almost veering into "Dukes of Hazzard" territory! The film ends with the two killing two forest rangers and a promise of the rest of the Mesrine story in "Public Enemy No. 1". So not as good as I think it might have been but good enough that I will make sure to see the second film.
Here the pace of the film changes. The director seems to feel as if he has to make use of the wide open spaces of the New World and the film becomes more of an action thriller rather than a gritty drama. Mesrine and his girlfriend kidnap a former employer and then go on the run. They are caught in Monument Valley, which makes for great visuals but seems unlikely. Back in prison Mesrine and an accomplice break out of a (supposedly) top security prison and start robbing banks. They even go back to the prison to try and help their friends escape. Wild car chases and shootouts ensue. At this stage I thought we were almost veering into "Dukes of Hazzard" territory! The film ends with the two killing two forest rangers and a promise of the rest of the Mesrine story in "Public Enemy No. 1". So not as good as I think it might have been but good enough that I will make sure to see the second film.