Did a wee search on the boards for anyone who’s seen this and found nothing, so here goes.
This film is about fifty shades of awesome.
Directed by Jean-François Richet, it’s the unremittingly violent biopic of Jacques Mesrine, French gangster and Most Wanted during the 60s and 70s, based on Mesrine’s own autobiography.
It traces the roots of his violence from the Algerian war of independence, through petty gangsterism in Paris, before becoming a bank robber in Montréal, and getting involved with the FLQ, and getting into and out of high security prison.
Mesrine is played by the exceptionally charismatic Vincent Cassell. The rest of the cast is very strong, too, and since it’s the law to have Gerard de Pardieu in every movie made in France, he plays Mesrine’s portly and imposing don.
They have of course played fast and loose with his real story, and there’s obvious embellishment, with some of the set pieces appearing frankly ridiculous, but overall this was an amazingly effective movie. In particular the violence was never glorified - it was mostly horrifically realistic. And though the movie doesn’t shy away from showing that he was a bad, bad man, we end up rooting for the antihero
This 113 minute movie is the first of two, his story being so worth telling in detail that the makers decided to do a 4-hour epic. I haven’t enjoyed a movie like this for years, and am gagging for the second installment, L’ennemi public No. 1.
Seriously, watch this, it’s amazing.
