Thursday 3 September 2009

Mesrine: Public Enemy Number One.

See above.


No, really. As I believe I mentioned in the previous review for Mesrine: Killer
Instinct, it would appear that Jacques Mesrine was a charming, amoral, violent
twat. He robbed banks and casinos, kidnapped people for money, and treated the
women in his life pretty shabbily. Well, plus ca change. It would appear that
Mesrine pretty much behaved the same way for the rest of his life. Eventually
the French police got pissed off with him, and shot him. (No spoiler there,
happens in the first few minutes of the first film.)

Which is not to say that this film has nothing to say. Mesrine did his best to
become a celebrity, manipulating the press to cultivate a romantic outlaw
image, which they appeared only too happy to cooperate with because it sold
magazines. I also couldn't help noticing that he'd never get away with his
casual, unplanned style of crime these days, what with modern security, and
that it was people like Mesrine who made modern bank security a necessity.

I suppose it would be fairest to consider the two films as a single film. In
which case, what you'd probably think is that it was a really good film, but a
bit samey and overlong by about an hour.