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Rating of
3/4
"Mesrine: Killer Instinct" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 10/23/2012
Killer Instinct is the story of notorious criminal Jacques Mesrine who progressed from petty crime on the streets of Paris to become Canada's public enemy number one. Kind of like a Gallic Goodfellas, Mesrine is based on a real gangster and similarly spans decades of his life. Vincent Cassel puts in a quality performance as the charismatic psychopath who became a media sensation in the early 1970s and although he is hardly the most likeable protagonist, his outlandish acts are consistently both entertaining to watch and quite incredible to believe. There are some quality set pieces, the scene in which he and his partner single-handedly attack a maximum security prison in which they were both tortured is a particular highlight. It is a little episodic and it lacks the depth of …
Rating of
3/4
Mesrine: Killer Instinct
Harley Lond - wrote on 02/20/2012
Jacques Mesrine was the last of the "great" French gangsters, his criminal career spanning more than 20 years of kidnappings, robberies, murders and prison escapes in some half-dozen countries ... until his death in a hail of police bullets in the middle of Paris in 1979. He was kind of a gallic Pretty Boy Floyd, capturing the imagination of the French public and the devotion of several French molls. Director Jean-François Richet takes his time telling Mesrine's story, splitting the narrative into two films: this and "Mesrine: Public Enemy #1." Though released in France in 2008, "Public Enemy" only made it to the states last year -- but it was worth the wait. Vincent Cassel ("Brotherhood of the Wolf," "Black Swan," "A Dangerous Method") is alternately charming and menacing as Mesrine, …
