You start to wonder if that personality is compelling enough to deserve such scrutiny... I’d have settled for a single film compiling the saga’s flashiest moments.
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09/01/09
Mesrine: Part 2 - Public Enemy #1 (2009)
92
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:26
Fresh:24
Rotten:2
Average Rating:7.5/10
Consensus: Vincent Cassel is mesmerizing in the lead role, and even if it's less focused than its predecessor, it's more fun.
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Ludivine Sagnier, Mathieu Amalric, Samuel Le Bihan
Director: Jean-Francois Richet
Reviews for Mesrine: Part 2 - Public Enemy #1
Richet's movie, dazzlingly edited by Bill Pankow, the regular American collaborator of Oliver Stone, is superior in every way to Michael Mann's Public Enemies.
09/01/09
Unlike its more lively predecessor, this is more interested in dissecting the criminal mindset.
08/29/09
While Killer Instinct is certainly worth checking out, this is far more satisfying than its predecessor, working as a self-contained satire on crime, media and celebrity.
08/29/09
The second and final instalment of French gangster Jacques Mesrine’s eventful life story arrives in cinemas, and is something of a let down.
08/29/09
Top CriticA triumphant conclusion to Jean-François Richet's exciting and enjoyable two-part story.
08/29/09
Top CriticThis rambunctious and violent gangster drama more than sustains its lengthy running time, and makes one wonder why the Gallic gun-toter isn’t better known internationally.
08/29/09
Though never less than entertaining, Killer Instinct and Public Enemy can’t escape the shadow of the films they might have been. Both earn their place in the gangster canon. But not even Jacques Mesrine can escape the constraints of cinema.
08/29/09
The movie situates the audience directly in numerous lines of fire and automobile smash-ups, and dazzles with a low-key, yet gripping escape from a maximum security prison.
08/29/09
Tonally different to its predecessor but just as engrossing.
08/29/09
It’s a bouncier, more fun, less focussed film – still worth four stars, as the first chapter got, but slightly smaller ones perhaps.
08/29/09
Vincent Cassel as Mesrine, keeps the plodding plot alive by delivering great one-liners with devilish charm. But only if the best bits had been squeezed into one movie could Jacques have been a thrill.
08/29/09
All the world loves an outlaw. But how cheaply is that love won if all his partners and opponents have been drafted in from Dullsville-sur-Seine?
08/29/09
Vincent Cassel fully commits himself to the role.
08/29/09
Mesrine: Killer Instinct is an exceptional French thriller but the companion film Mesrine: Public Enemy No 1 is even better. The pace is just as dynamic, the performances are equally impressive.
08/29/09
Vincent Cassel is superb in the lead, craggily handsome, steely and volatile.
08/29/09
Cassel delivers a stonking performance as the anti-hero.
08/29/09
Not only does it provide a breathlessly exciting concluding chapter, it deepens our understanding of Mesrine by providing some psychological complexity to counter the unapologetically celebratory first half.
08/29/09
The second chunk of the epic story of French gangster Jacques Mesrine is every bit as engrossing as the first movie.
08/29/09
Richet recreates the period with a remarkable attention to detail, using coarse touches to ground the chaotic shootouts and heists in reality.
08/07/09
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