Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1

What goes up must come down, but the life and times of felon Jacques Mesrine provide a splendidly cinematic finishing move with Mesrine: Public Enemy #1. The second half of an explosive bio-pic, the closing chapter carries a bleak tone, resembling a death row march, but the volcanic filmmaking remains in a state of alert, observing the titular crook swell up with defiance and excessive bravado, while the cops make a push to hunt down and end Mesrine’s criminal reign.

Fully entrenched in his unlawful ways, Mesrine (Vincent Cassel) finds renewed motivation as the world press builds his legend, gifting his bank robbing exploits front-page headlines and television coverage. While the notoriety sends Mesrine back to prison, he finds an escape artist named Besse (Mathieu Amalric) to help him plan another breakout, further enraging law enforcement officials. Losing himself to ego, increasingly daring acts of kidnapping, and political grandstanding, Mesrine torches the critical support of his underworld brotherhood, leaving the thug with his mistress, Sylvie (Ludivine Sagnier), and the weight of his misbegotten life to confront as the police close in. —DVDtalk.com