Charistmatic gangster are a staple of cinema, and Frenchman Jacques Mesrine was actually liked to the most iconic of all such figures, Bonnie and Clyde. In truth, such people are rarely heroes, but this two-part story captures excellently the psychological processes that might have transformed an ordinary man into the public enemy of his day. Vincent Cassel is very good, and the film is full of suspense; it neither demonises nor glamorises its protagonist, and interestingly, sets his story against the backdrop of the political violence of the 1970s, which had a superficial interest to Mesrine as he built his own legend. Even if you're tired of violent criminal dramas, I recommend this one: the (true) story is amazing, and told with a humanistic viewpoint rare in such films.
Review of Mesrine: Killer Instinct
