Mesrine: Killer Instinct is the first of a two-part story about the life and times of French gangster Jaques Mesrine. These two French films have been compared to Scarface (the 1983 Al Pacino one), for their depiction of the rise and fall of a violent criminal, but unlike Scarface, Mesrine: Killer Instinct is based on actual events that Mesrine wrote in his biography of the same name.
The story begins in Algeria where Mesrine, serving in the French army, is first exposed to killing, and the place where he claims he developed the 'killer instinct' referenced in the title. Upon his return to Paris, he falls in with organized crime figure Guido (Gerard Depardieu), pulling burglaries and armed robberies in the 1960s, until he's caught and sent to prison. Upon his release he travels to Montreal where he befriends a Quebec separatist and a female criminal. The three, led by Mesrine begin a crime spree that will soon make headlines.
Mesrine: Killer Instinct is a great fast-moving crime drama that is every bit as good as just about any true crime film Hollywood has ever put out, and is definitely worth your time. The cinematography is great, with some cinema du look influence evident, but not so much as to take away from the true-crime expose feel, and a fantastic performance by Vincent Cassel as Mesrine.
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