I've never made a secret of my antipathy to Vincent Cassell and the small group of directors specializing in violence who form his personal friends in real life and this film does absolutely nothing to change my opinion. I accept that it has been lauded and won awards but we live in a democracy and people are free to praise as they see fit. I often wonder what Cassell will do in late middle or old age when the violent roles dry up because he apparently has an acting range of about A to E unlike say, Gerard Depardieu who co-stars here and began his own career playing violent yobs in things like Les Valseuses but can actually play other things not least a middle-aged crooner as he did in Quand J'Etais chanteur a couple of years ago. Mesrine - which actually improves very little on the previous biopic of the same name produced in 1984 - will no doubt score with its target audience, 14 - 30 year olds already living in a gang culture or else aspiring to do so. Technically it's well done and it is, for the most part, true: There was an anti-social person named Jacques Mesrine who did live a violent life and met an equally violent death in 1970s France; technically accomplished, yes, entertainment, no.
Review of Mesrine: Killer Instinct
