L'Ennemi public no 1 (Mesrin: Public Enemy Number One)
2008
****
Director: Jean-François Richet
Cast: Vincent Cassel, Ludivine Sagnier, Michel Duchaussoy, Myriam Boyer, Mathieu Amalric, Gérard Lanvin, Samuel Le Bihan, Olivier Gourmet, Anne Consigny, Georges Wilson, Fanny Sidney
The follow-up to Mesrin: Killer Instinct covers the last six years of Jacques Mesrin's life. The story continues in 1973, when Mesrin is back in France, and even more full of swagger. Not only does he see himself as an honourable crook, but as a revolutionary, and as a man of the people. The French police see him as a sociopath who must be stopped at all cost. The second film is as gripping as the first one, but perhaps slightly too long. But Mesrin's outlandish criminal schemes and daring breakouts are irrestistibly entertaining, and Vincent Cassel is absolutely wonderful in the lead.
