Mesrine: Parts 1 and 2 DVD

James Oliver acclaims Vincent Cassell's towering lead performance in this exhilarating double-header detailing the rise and fall of an audacious villain.

For French citizens of a certain age, 'Jacques Mesrine' is a name as potent as that of The Kray Twins on this side of the channel. The most audacious villain of his generation, with a taste for publicity, he played out a decade-long crime wave on the front pages until the Gendarmerie finally stopped him in a hail of bullets.
 
This epic diptych recounts his ascent (Killer Instinct) and comeuppance (Public Enemy No.1); beginning in Algeria, Private Mesrine is a reluctant part of his country's brutal counter-insurgency strategy. Back home, he forsakes bourgeois routine for a life of crime; when the heat gets too much, he high-tails it to Canada and even grander misbehaviour.
 
By part two, he's back in France and ever more daring: he escapes from a court room by taking the judge hostage. Increasingly obsessed with his reputation, he starts taking dangerous risks. And the police draw ever closer.
 
It's easy to see why Mesrine achieved near folk hero status. Vincent Cassel's towering performance highlights his unpredictable charisma and there's no denying his panache: robbing two banks on the same street in succession or returning to the maximum security prison he's just escaped from to rescue his friends (surely the best action sequence of the year.)
 
Yet the films refuse to glorify him. Mesrine's charm barely conceals a vicious streak that sees him pull a gun on his pregnant wife and brutally murder defenceless men. As the films progress, he becomes increasingly delusional, inventing spurious justifications for his crimes.
 
Throughout both films the political climate that shaped Mesrine is emphasised: the legacy of the Nazi occupation, the colonial retreat from Algeria and subsequent nationalist movements. By part two, he's even comparing himself to the Baader-Meinhof gang, arguing that he too is a revolutionary, battling a repressive state.
 
If that sounds altogether too high-minded, it's worth noting that above all, these films are superb examples of action cinema. Director Jean-François Richet stages them with the confidence and élan of Michael Mann at his best. This is exhilarating filmmaking and highly recommended.

James Oliver on 21st December 2009
Author of 147 reviews