The story of french gangster Jacques Mesrine, before he was called Public Enemy N°1. Mesrine Part 1: Killer Instinct succeeds thanks to a great and haunting performance by Vincent Cassel who is easily the best part of the movie both as a character and as an actor. The rest of the cast does a pretty good job too such as Gérard Depardieu as Guido and Elena Anaya as Sofia. The action is really good and if you're into Gangster movies such as myself you won't be disappointed of course the film is not perfect it has some pacing issues and some moments feel kinda unrealistic if you ask me but as a French picture it's pretty damn good and Cassel gives his best performance in his entire career. (7/10)

When I saw the movie, I noticed a lot of similarities with the gang Haemers (Bende van Haemers) in Belgium. Patrick Haemers was a Belgian criminal. He was head of the gang which kidnapped former Belgian prime minister Paul Vanden Boeynants from 14 January 1989 to 13 February 1989. Also planned to kidnap Mr Heineken. When you would make a blueprint of the story of Mesrine and Haemers, it really looks like the public enemy nr 1 of France and the public enemy number 1 of Belgium are a carbon copy in many aspects. Robberies, prison escapes and moving up the ladder to kidnapping. I did not know the story of Mesrine but the performance of Vincent Cassel adds flavor to the movie. The prelude tries to explain how the connections in his brain shifted to a ruthless and brutal killer. A must see.

The simple thought that a man like Mesrine really existed is terrifying. A complete and ideal criminal, slick, resourceful, always calm and ready to impact his environment in the worst sense, while always being in control of the outcome. Well, almost always. I've heard about Mesrine before watching this fine movie. And I have to say, it left me slightly disappointed. Some of the crucial details were left out. But I find that reasonable cause some 500 year old countries don't have as much history as this man had. Nor did they impact the world as this man did. A true bad ass that took a small part in shaping the modern media, French laws and pop culture in general. And got nicknamed "The Man of a thousand Faces" in the process. Oh yeah. He actually found time to write an autobiography during his stay at the prison which eventually forced the French government to push the "Son of Sam" law, forbidding the publishment of books written by known criminals. Clyde, you have been shotgunned by the Frenchy in every way.The notion that "L'instinct de mort" leaves behind is definitely a romantic one. This movie is made to be popular and more "user friendly". I could not shake off the feeling that Vincent Cassel was the best man for the job, at any given moment of this movie. Great work. He totally pulled it off. Especially the parts where Mesrine gets caught in fishy situations and when his calmness absolutely shines. Vincent made it look SO easy. The movie constantly introduced new characters and every single one of them was special in their own way. The feminine characters that associated with Mesrine all proved fatal to this Byronic hero. Everything about them is made short but full, easy to understand. This movie also intrigued me with the sudden termination of what seemed to be critical figures in Mesrines life, giving everything a more realistic taste. Something like terminating Leo DiCaprio in Departed. Its done, deal with it, move on. The side of the movie that deals with the media reminded me of Tarantinos "Natural born killers". Mickey and Malorey equal Jacques and Jeanne.Once again, I have been reassured that French movies are the hot stuff. As I mentioned before, this movie is "user friendly" all the way and the thing about French movies is that I never had any problem about being picky to whom I am going to recommend them. In the end, everybody loves 'em. So do I. Can't wait to see the second part tonight!

This crime drama is based on the true exploits of a French gangster. This is nothing more than an amateurish rehash of American gangster films, a genre that is foreign to French filmmakers and it shows. The story is episodic, with the screenwriters apparently choosing to chronicle every incident in Mesrine's book, however dull or ridiculous. There is an escape scene from a supposed maximum security prison in Canada that is so easily managed that it is laughable. It is understandable that Mesrine is an unappealing character, but does he also have to be uninteresting? Cassel seems to be doing a Robert De Niro impression, and a bad one at that.