The Mesrine Movies

Mesrine: Killer Instinct (L’instinct de mort) (2008)

84% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 62 reviews)

Runtime: 113 minutes

Directed by: Jean-Francois Richet

Starring: Vincent Cassel, Cecile De France, Gerard Depardieu, Gilles Lellouche

From: La Petite Reine

Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 (L’ennemi public n1) (2008)

84% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 79 reviews)

Runtime: 133 minutes

Directed by: Jean-Francois Richet

Starring: Vincent Cassel, Ludivine Sagnier, Mathieu Amalric, Samuel Le Bihan

From: La Petite Reine

Here’s a double-shot where I talk about a pair of French movies released over there a few years ago which-believe it or not-started playing a few miles from where I leave. Epic Theatres of Clermont didn’t always do this, but as of a few months ago, usually they’d have an auditorium devoted to something more independent/obscure, like some documentaries, smaller films, and foreign movies (like I believe all of the flicks in the The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series, which I have zero interest in seeing… and I’d rather not see the American remake either.) Finally I bit the bullet and decided to give some money to this endeavor, so that they continue to do such a thing in the future and thus possibly give me the chance to see something cool on the big screen that I otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to.

The two movies were based on famed French criminal Jacques Mesrine, who became notorious for his great ability to elude the police and if he did get caught, he was able to escape in some great ways. In the two movies you get to see some of that, and it seems almost too crazy to believe, and yet as far as I have heard, all of that stuff is accurate. Just look at his Wikipedia page. Note that not everything featured among his exploits on Wiki gets featured in the films. I mean, the movies are not just him doing a lot of crazy stuff. Rather, it tries to example Jacques Mesrine and tries to figure out why he did the crazy things he did, along with the interactions he had with other people and the effect his life had on his close confidants. His manipulation of the media, which allowed him to actually become a popular figure in France, also is addressed.

In short, the first movie is about the title character and how he started off in the criminal life as a young man throughout the end of the 1960’s, when he ended up in North America. The second movie was set in the 70’s and you get to see his downfall. It’s no spoiler to mention it, but he gets gunned down in controversial fashion, more of an execution than any sort of attempted arrest… at least according to how this movie told the story.

It’s more of a drama with some action mixed in, a la The Godfather or Goodfellas. I’m not saying this is as great as those two undeniable classics. I’m more talking about theme and structure, that’s all. Although, the two movies are both pretty great on their own and are well worth tracking down if you enjoy that sort of thing. I have no idea when it’ll be coming out on DVD, though.

One thing I’ll note from the first movie is Depardieu. He’s been a huge star in Europe for many years and he tried to replicate the same success in America in the early 90’s, to little success. No matter the reasons, it didn’t work out. I guess that still being a star in Europe isn’t too shabby. I haven’t really seen much of his work, but I do know that he’s similar to Orson Welles or Marlon Brando… in a not so great way, i.e. their girth as they got older. But hey, that doesn’t mean too much to me and he managed to look the part for the film (a tough gangster boss) and it was a quality performance. Although, Cassel was great and the star of both films. He knocked it out of the ballpark with his performance.

There are some things about the movie that I’ll say are “totally European”, even though I may be generalizing based off assumptions, given that I haven’t seen too many movies from that continent. For example, there’s a lot of smoking going on. There are countless scenes with characters puffing away. I know, the movie’s set in the past, but I haven’t seen movies with that much lighting up… well, maybe ever. Also, a few times you have split-screens, where you see a few different views of the same scene. It isn’t done so often it becomes a distraction, thankfully. Also, while you get your fair share of violent moments (stabbings, shootings, pistol-whippings, car chases, and so forth) it’s Europe so sex is more out in the open, and you also get to see some thrusting action, to put it bluntly. Also, there’s some nudity… which I didn’t complain about!

Like I said, when you're able to see it, I recommend seeing this. I'll be back Monday night with a totally different kind of foreign motion picture.