This is the true story of French gangster Jacques Mesrine's life from his time in the Foreign Legion in the Algerian War in 1959 up until his violent death in 1979.
Part I: Mesrine: Killer Instinct/Mesrine: L'Instinct de Mort
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| Vincent Cassel is the persuasive front man for Jean-François Richet's Mesrine double feature |
Jacques Mesrine is shown as a cynical killer from the first scene from his time in the Algerian War, perhaps the last of the decolonization wars. Later on back in France, Mesrine eagerly blames his parents and especially his father while ditching an honest job offer to be a murderous criminal for local gangster boss Guido (a convincing Gerard Deperdieu (United Passions (2014))). Estranging his wife through violence, escaping to Canada, kidnapping and getting arrested in the US are some of the later plot points, before Mesrine and his partner are put in a high-security penitentiary.
The third act revolves around the escape from this facility, and an unfortunate, following incident that causes Mesrine and partner to conclude that it's now either 'escape or die', as the first movie ends. Both films are written by Abdel Raouf Dafri (A Prophet/Un Prophète (2009)), the first one based on Jacques Mesrin's autobiography L'Instinct de Mort.
Though I approached this unusual, huge, French gangster epic with some hesitance, I was lured in fairly quickly by the performances of Depardieu and especially Vincent Cassel (Ocean's Twelve (2004)), whose performance as the title lead in the two films is constant, incredibly intense and equally ruthless, a portrayal of a megalomaniacal, charismatic, brute macho psychopath. Cassel is what really kept me engaged.
The production by Thomas Langmann (The Artist (2011)) is impeccable technically; from period costumes to cars, localities, colors, the snappy editing and especially Robert Gantz' (White Collar (2012-13)) photography, which is done with skill, vision and an abundance of energy and time, it seems. Gantz comes from American TV (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and many later shows) and a few films, (Mindhunters (2004) and Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)), and he certainly knows how to shoot action and suspense scenes.
The effective score is by Marco Beltrami (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)) and Marcus Trumpp (Die Hard 4.0 (2007)).
It is clear that director Jean-François Richet (Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)) has decided it desirable to get as much of Mesrine's incredible criminal life in the films as possible, thereby stacking his pancake-tower sometimes a bit too high, and perhaps losing some opportunities for closer looks at single incidents. But overall, L'Instint de Mort is a very exciting film and a refreshing and bold mega-production that proves that Europe (here actuality France, Italy and Canada in a co-production) is not falling behind Hollywood in quality.
Both films start out with a text (almost a disclaimer of sorts) basically saying that what you'll see is true, but just don't take anything for granted. This seems to me a smart and understandable way to introduce and approach a project like the Mesrine films.
The title L'Instinct de Mort is not explained before the second film, where it is revealed that Mesrine writes a book of some of his crimes (and supposedly made up ones) with the same title.
Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1/Mesrine: L'ennemi public n°1
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The second movie starts by showing us where and how Mesrine is finally killed in 1979.
We then regress some 7 years back to see him caught again in France and tried, writing a book to gain popularity, and again he manages to escape, this time from the courtroom. As more and more robberies and escapes follow, the French police and prison guards look increasingly incompetent and idiotic, and the film loses pace. It is unclear why we witness so much repetition, and also what Mesrine actually needs to do so many heists for. We never see him spend some of all the money, and any aim with the escapades seem elusive at best.
Until he is caught again.
He then spends 5 years in jail and reunites with his daughter in one of the few downright bad scenes in the films: The young actress sheepishly smiles and tries her best in the interview with her mass-murdering, neglectful father. Where was the director, one wonders.
With a new partner, the quiet, cautious Besse (Matheiu Amalric (The Blue Room/La Chambre Bleue (2014))), Mesrine again escapes, but their paths veer, as Besse wants to be rich in quiet, while Mesrine now sees it as his mission to get all high-security jails closed by murdering judges, kidnapping billionaires and using bazookas.
A plotline with a kidnapped billionaire fizzes out without any real conclusion as to what is done with him. Besse and Mesrine have an amusing escape in a trunk in the countryside before splitting up.
Mesrine then becomes closer aligned with a radical left wing terrorist, and he murders a reporter he doesn't like.
The ending is, unfortunately, terribly drawn out and completely lacking in suspense or thematic weight, as we already know how Mesrine will be killed, and the mise-en-scene lets us know way in advance that now is the time.
Unfortunately, the second film is not at level with the first one. Scenes are dramatically lost, and the long, pointless ending is a shame. The film is also longer than the first one, passing 2 hours, without any good reason for it.
In fact, the reason that the two films never score higher is to some degree that the format of slicing one story up in two films is usually not advantageous, and certainly isn't here: Mesrine should definitely have been one approximately 2 and a half hour long film. It is dramatically unsatisfying not to have an ending to the first film, and the development in the second is thin, mostly just covering more and more crimes and escapes.
Nevertheless, both films are incredibly well-produced and a joy for anyone with a sense of craftsmanship. None of the action or big scenes are restricted from being done in real life and instead plotted in as CGI. It is first rate production-wise, and Cassel gives perhaps his career's best performance as villainous Mesrine.
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2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
Cost: 50 mil.$
Box office: Reportedly 46.3 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.92 times its cost)
[Mesrine Part I premiered 11 September (Toronto International Film Festival, Ontario) and Part II 22 October (Tokyo International Film Festival) and the films run 113 and 133 minutes, respectively. The film was made as a cooperation of 17 companies and support bodies. Shooting took place in Spain, Algeria, France, including Paris, in Utah and Québec, Canada, from May 2007 - January 2008. The first part opened #37 to a 152k $ first weekend in 28 theaters in North America, where it spread to 34 theaters but didn't achieve a higher ranking and grossed 551k $. The second film opened #45 to a 74k $ first weekend in 31 theaters and grossed 275 in North America. Numbers are underreported for especially the second film. The first film was biggest in main production country France with 18.1 mil. $ and Russia with 2.5 mil. $. The film won 3/10 César award nominations. Richet returned with One Wild Moment/Un Moment d'Égarement (2015). Cassel returned with a voice performance in Lascars (2009) and physically in Adrift/À Deriva (2009). Mesrine Part I is certified fresh at 81 % with a 7.37/10 critical average and Mesrine Part II is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.25/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1?
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