Mesrine: Killer Instinct, Part 1

This first film of a two-part saga from director Jean-François Richet manages to be both hyperviolent and stylish without resorting to comic-book special effects, built instead on a riveting performance by Vincent Cassel in the title role of Jacques Mesrine (1936-79), a legendary real-life outlaw, master of disguise, escape artist, and media sensation. Adapted from Mesrine's own autobiographical novel, the film moves at warp speed as it barrels through his beginnings as an interrogator in the Franco-Algerian War, evolution into a stealthy burglar, and entry into more sinister adventures in the French criminal underworld of the 1960s after ruthless gangland boss Guido (Gérard Depardieu) takes him on as a protégé. After failed attempts at going straight and raising a family (Elena Anaya plays his wife, Sofia), Mesrine partners with icily sexy sidekick/lover Jeanne (Cécile De France), and his crimes soon wedge him precariously between the mob and the law. Although the narrative makes some abrupt chronological jumps, the pacing never flags (one amazing sequence covers Mesrine's jarring experiences in a maximum-security Québec prison--and his miraculous white-knuckled breakout). Cassel brings convincing complexity to Mesrine, who is capable of cool suavity one moment and animal-like ferocity the next; and Depardieu is surprisingly believable as the hulking and vicious Guido. The second part, Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 will be released on March 29. Highly recommended. (M. Sandlin)