Mesrine: Killer Instinct (2008)

Cautiously Recommended

France/Canada/Italy

Feature Film

Original Title: L'instinct de mort

Director: Jean-François Richet

Writers: Abdel Raouf Dafri, Jean-François Richet, Jacques Mesrine

Cinematographer: Robert Gantz

Composer: Eloi Painchaud

Cast: Vincent Cassel, Cécile De France, Gérard Depardieu, Gilles Lellouche, Roy Dupuis, Elena Anaya, Florence Thomassin

The first part of Richet’s two-part biopic of notorious French gangster Jacques Mesrine – a stylish (if vaguely flashy) and well-acted thriller – breathlessly flies through the sickeningly violent early years of his career, often feeling like a highlights reel from another film, before (thankfully) relaxing its pace somewhat as it settles down into a prison escape movie for its last forty minutes or so, the film’s most engaging section. Iain.Stott

Followed by Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 (2008)