**** – Picking up the story of gangster Jacques Mesrine in 1973 after the conclusion of the first part of this two-part 2008 French film, “Mesrine, part 2” takes most of what was good about its predecessor and adds even more layers of action and tension. Jacques Mesrine was not a good person. He robbed, he kidnapped, he killed, and none of it seemed to be for any real purpose despite his attempts to play everything off at times as being politically motivated. If this movie has any kernels of truth to it, I get the feeling that Mesrine really just enjoyed being a criminal, didn’t like to have laws restricting him, and was in love with the idea of his own celebrity. So, what this movie actually does is concentrates on the charm and charisma of the man that while he was most certainly quite evil, also managed to become a sort of roguish hero to many largely through his own self-aggrandizement. Vincent Cassel does a stellar job in the title role, ably imbuing the man with both charm and disdain, and the rest of the cast (especially those playing the handful of accomplices that he had in his final years) were also quite good. I guess the only real faults I can find with this movie is its considerable length (almost a half hour longer than the first part) and a narrative that seems to jump around a bit, thereby giving it a considerable disjointed quality. I’d certainly recommend giving this movie a try, and am grateful that the film makers had the sense to split it into two parts.
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