Mesrine is a lean, flashy, fast-moving, somewhat repetitive film, very French in some ways, yet lacking the gravitas of the crime movies starring Jean Gabin or directed by Jean-Pierre Melville.
Comment
08/11/09
Mesrine: Killer Instinct (2009)
79
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:28
Fresh:22
Rotten:6
Average Rating:6.9/10
Consensus: The first part of this French crime epic is lean, mean, dizzying and violent, and features a towering central performance.
Rated: 15
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:07-08-2009
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Cecile de France, Gérard Depardieu
Director: Jean-Francois Richet
Reviews for Mesrine: Killer Instinct
Richet’s punchy style doesn’t add anything new to the conventional, Scorsese-inspired way of presenting gangster movies, but it’s well done, giving the film a constant supply of energy.
08/11/09
A violent, egocentric but nonetheless fascinating character, it's a film to watch in horrified fascination.
08/11/09
Cassel injects a jolt of wild energy and ambiguity into what could easily have been another flatulent, apologist gangster epic.
08/07/09
Top CriticA film that doesn't necessarily glamorise its subject, though it does seems worryingly enamoured by his achievements. This is ultimately closer to a slice of over-board entertainment than an insight into a despicable, if extraordinary man.
08/07/09
Top CriticMesrine: Killer Instinct the central character starts out as a callous murderer and doesn’t change. As a result, the film feels episodic.
08/07/09
Top CriticMuscular, forthright storytelling, hard-smoking, hard-drinking action, horribly incorrect attitudes, brutality with a top-note of self-loathing, bushy moustaches and a cracking lead performance.
08/07/09
Top CriticI have my doubts about Cassel in this role, but the movie peaks with enough brute urgency to stoke your hopes nicely for part two.
08/07/09
Top CriticKiller 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.
08/07/09
A shotgun blast of a crime thriller; a dizzying, violent, and terrifying thrill ride.
08/07/09
Though it touches on some wider issues, Mesrine really just wants to be a classy, exciting genre movie. In this it succeeds perfectly.
08/07/09
I'm unconvinced that Mesrine was worthy of a four-hour biopic. He's just not that interesting, and though he may have the killer instinct, this movie sags too frequently to have the thriller instinct.
08/07/09
Part one ends leaving you needing to see part two, which is out in three weeks, and on this showing Mesrine simply isn't worth four hours of your life.
08/07/09
Cassel’s Jacques Mesrine is pieced together from gritty shards of believability, a street-real mosaic no one tries to smooth and polish. For that reason he and it have the sharp edges and septic menace of life.
08/07/09
There's an inevitable air of unfinished business hanging over this first instalment, though it moves at a tidy lick and conjures an atmosphere rank with Gauloises and greed.
08/07/09
Cassel surely deserves Oscar and Bafta consideration for a level of acting that dominates every frame of an exceptional thriller that easily surpasses any recent American efforts in this genre.
08/07/09
It remains totally watchable and, in Cassel, it has an actor as strong as anyone.
08/07/09
With a riveting performance by Cassel at the centre, it's definitely worth seeing, even if it never really gets beneath the skin.
08/07/09
A brilliant gangster flick.
08/07/09
Mesrine's life is almost too close to cinema to be true: we've seen wiseguys like this before, and the film offers few psychological clues as to why a middle-class boy from Clichy might tumble to crime.
08/07/09
Latest News for Mesrine: Killer Instinct
May 28, 2009:
Trailer Exclusive - Mesrine: Killer Instinct
Inspired by the life of France's most notorious criminal, Mesrine: Killer Instinct charts the rise and fall of the often marvelled, yet utterly ruthless gangster Jacques... More...
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