Mesrine: Killer Instinct (2008) User Reviews (74)

The first part of a two part true story French gangster flick about a gangster I had never heard of.

[david-phillips-4 · 8/10 · 22 September 2009]

What is it with gangsters? I like watching gangster films and I don't care what sort of gangsters they are. Something about the bravado and living the high life seems to appeal and there is always an element of charisma about them. That's not to say I wish to be a gangster or to break the law, but the self confidence and the refusal to take sh** from anyone attitude is attractive. But, were I to be placed in a room with a genuine gangster, I'm certain I would be terrified and would want to get out of there ASAP.

The film opens with Mesrine making a decision whilst in the French army and in Algiers whether to follow his superior's orders to shoot the wife of a terrorist suspect or to shoot the suspect. This moment, as well as establishing that Mesrine has the killer instinct of the title, shows us that he is not one for conforming to authority, as he ignores his superior and takes the shot.

From that point, the film is episodic as it follows Mesrine from petty crime to audacious criminal exploits. Each episode showcases another aspect to Mesrine's multi-layered character. Yet, because they are episodic, some of Mesrine's character fails to carry over from one to the next. This presents a fairly schizophrenic view of him which could well be in keeping with his real-life persona.

However, many of the episodes do provide insights into why this particular person's journey took this particular route. Having left the army, Mesrine turns to petty crime with his friend. This leads him to more serious crime, working for a Parisian crime lord, brilliantly underplayed by Gerard Depardieu. His personal life also keeps pace with his professional ascension. He has an ill-fated romance with a prostitute and a holiday romance that becomes a marriage following a sojourn to Spain. The film also takes the time to illustrate the strained relationship Mesrine had with his parents, in particular his father. Far from coming from a broken home, Mesrine is clearly from a loving, if conservative, family. Only Mesrine's own inner rage, reminiscent of James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, at his father's seeming lack of courage rocks that world.

It is easy to see how Mesrine captured the imaginations of so many. His charisma, very ably aided by Vincent Cassel's own screen presence, shines from the screen whether talking his way out of house or defiantly standing up to his brutal treatment when he is finally caught and incarcerated.

He was imprisoned and brutally treated, following a one man / one woman crime wave across the world and, as part of his escape plan he assured those helping him that he would return to break them out. It is testament to his stature that they believed him and it is testament to his word that that is exactly what he attempted. Throughout his return to facilitate the breakout, the film enters the realms of an action movie.

The exploits of Mesrine left me wondering just how much the makers had embellished, or Mesrine has embellished for that matter – the film is based on his memoir, or did this guy really do these things?

There is one thing that I do know about Mesrine: I can't wait to see part two!

www.writeronthestorm.wordpress.com

A killer biopic

[MaxBorg89 · 8/10 · 17 January 2009]

How do you recover from an American project that was received with mixed reactions to say the least (that would be the Assault on Precinct 13 remake)? Easy: go back to your home country (in this case France) and devote time to your real passion project, the one that can give you bona fide director credentials. That's exactly what Jean-François Richet did with Death Instinct, the remarkable first part in a two-movie story about famous French criminal Jacques Mesrine.

Like most other biopics, the film opens with the protagonist's death, and what a spectacular demise that is: gunned down by unidentified shooters in the middle of a crowded Parisian street. The story then flashes back to the early '60s, when Jacques (Vincent Cassel) returns home after a harrowing tour of duty in Algeria. Looking for work, he learns an old friend of his earns money on the side by carrying out certain "assignments" for a heavyweight (pun not intended) criminal known as Guido (Gérard Depardieu). At first, it's all fun and games, exotic holidays and beautiful women. Then, once Jacques gets married, his wife isn't quite happy with his lifestyle. The thing ends badly, and Mesrine continues his illegal career, toughening up after Guido is brutally murdered. Thus begins his successful series of bank robberies and scams that quickly lead him to becoming the most wanted man in France and prompt his brief stay in Canada. Even there, however, he just can's stay away from trouble.

Richet is certainly no Michael Mann (an obvious reference when it comes to the robbery scenes), but he tells the story with gusto and precision, staging the tale as if it were a traditional gangster movie: taste of power, discovery of the unpleasant consequences, fight until the end to reach the top. He deals with an impressive amount of material (and this is just Part One) and handles it so that even the merely explicative bits feel tense and exciting. From start to finish, Killer Instinct moves at a reasonably quick pace, asking the viewer for commitment and endurance, and deservedly so: it's one hell of a thrilling ride.

If one has to complain, it should be noted that the psychology of certain characters is a bit sketchy (Guido is really nothing more than the average gangster type), but that flaw is generally compensated by very solid acting. The most effective (and terrifying turn) is of course the one coming from Cassel, who was everyone's first and only choice for the leading role, according to cast and crew statements. Returning to the more troubled side that has been left pretty much unexplored since La Haine, he digs into Mesrine's dark psyche and re-emerges with a complex, chilling part that makes him deserving of the his widespread reputation as one of France's best young thespians.

As for the deliberately open ending, the final captions are clever but a bit smug: after revealing the fate of characters who won't return in the follow-up, the title card says "As for Jacques Mesrine... End of the first part". As if we didn't know that already.

so much stories

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 21 July 2016]

It's the story of gangster Jacques Mesrine (Vincent Cassel) from 1959 to becoming known as Pubic Enemy #1 in 1972. In 1959, he's a French soldier forced to kill a prisoner. Upon his return, he and his friend Paul start robbing and working for gangster Guido (Gérard Depardieu). He marries Sofia (Elena Anaya) and have a family. He gets imprisoned. He's struggling with his marriage. He finds a fellow criminal soul in Jeanne Schneider (Cécile De France). They rob a mob casino and leave for Montreal. In 1968, he befriends FLQ member Jean-Paul Mercier (Roy Dupuis). Mesrine and Schneider are arrested in Arizona and extradited back to Quebec as the new Bonnie and Clyde. In prison, Mesrine, Mercier, and others make an escape and go on a crime rampage.

This semi-biopic has so much material to go through. It's an epic that deserves six seasons of big-time violent brutal crime TV drama. This two hour movie feels compressed into a highlight reel of the his gleeful descend. Vincent Cassel is terrific. He's able to maintain the focus with the rotating cast of characters. It needs focus in terms of story but it's a very compelling character.

A convincing character study

[paul2001sw-1 · 9/10 · 26 July 2012]

Charistmatic gangster are a staple of cinema, and Frenchman Jacques Mesrine was actually liked to the most iconic of all such figures, Bonnie and Clyde. In truth, such people are rarely heroes, but this two-part story captures excellently the psychological processes that might have transformed an ordinary man into the public enemy of his day. Vincent Cassel is very good, and the film is full of suspense; it neither demonises nor glamorises its protagonist, and interestingly, sets his story against the backdrop of the political violence of the 1970s, which had a superficial interest to Mesrine as he built his own legend. Even if you're tired of violent criminal dramas, I recommend this one: the (true) story is amazing, and told with a humanistic viewpoint rare in such films.

Parts 1 & 2 together, Epic.

[come2whereimfrom · 9/10 · 27 July 2009]

Every once in a while a part comes along that is cast so well it's as if the actor was born to play and will forever be remembered for that role. Vincent Cassels portrayal of Frances public enemy number one, Jacques Mesrine, is one such role. Funny, disturbing, charming, psychotic and more Cassel is the larger than life criminal achieving a completely believable character study of someone the French press dubbed 'the man of a thousand faces' due to his ability to change his looks so often to evade the police. In fact the truth behind this most notorious of stories is so unbelievable at times that the filmmakers left parts out thinking the audience would think it was just too far fetched, in fact after watching the escapades of Mesrine I too thought 'all that couldn't have happened surely?' But after a little bit of homework I found that it did indeed all take place and after seeing the tale unfold you realise why Mesrine got his Monika. The film, told in two parts, opens with a brilliant seventies cop style feel and begins at the end before returning us to the start where we see a young Mesrine in the army fighting in the Algerian war, on his return to his native Paris he quickly becomes entangled with Guido a mafia boss played superbly by Gerard Depardieu (why had no one cast him in this kind of role before?) and over the course of the next four thrilling hours he rises to become the career criminal that became an embarrassment to the French police and government. Shot all grainy and washed out with an amazing attention to detail we follow Mesrine from bank robberies to kidnap, general violence to daring prison escapes and in a complete juxtaposition we see the family man, the charmer and the comedian. Hailed by some as a kind of Robin Hood figure the film never judges either way and gives you enough information for you to make up your own mind but of course with a figure so complex it's hard when the lines blur. He obviously loves his children doting on them in one scene but in another he smashes a glass in a man's face and beats and leaves a journalist for dead after he wrote a disparaging article about him. What doesn't help is that a lot of what happens is taken from the book Mesrine wrote in prison 'Killer Instinct' a work that he himself has said was slightly exaggerated to make him seen more notorious than he actually was. Overall though the film is a thrill ride from start to finish and can hold its own with any of the great gangster epics. Stylish, violent and gob smacking, it's a must see and with the immersive bravado of Cassel as Mesrine this film will be one that will be held in high esteem for some time to come.

A bit hollow

[Dandy_Desmond · 7/10 · 28 June 2010]

Mesrine is a nice looking film. Its very well made, very well acted but when it was finished I felt I didn't really know the guy, what motivated him or pretty much care for him one way or another. He is described as an anti hero for the French but all I witnessed was him beating his wife in front of his kids, killing people, threatening innocent people in the banks. It is very well put together as a set of cool montages. For example the cool gangsters are playing cards when a rowdy couple of guys walk in and cause some trouble with the bar maid, enter Mesrine and crash bang wallop = sorted. Then we move on to him chatting up some girls, having sex, bank job, beats his wife then his boss and best mate get killed. You see where I am going? - there is never a point where the movie stops and lets you get to know what makes him tick. Like I said its a very good looking film but is a little bit hollow to be considered a great film.

Lands successfully between crime thriller, gangster saga and character study

[youllneverbe · 8/10 · 26 September 2009]

*REVIEW OF BOTH PARTS*

There is a short paragraph that opens both "Mesrine" films; the exact wording escapes me, but it says something like "no film can accurately portray the complexities of a human life". This seems to be a pre-emptive defense, as if Richet anticipates criticism for a lack of depth or some glaring omissions. After all, Jacques Mesrine is apparently still a famous name in France, and his public persona lives on. If even half his supposed exploits were true, the story would still be crying out for a definitive dramatisation. As such, Richet has wisely avoided making any real ethical judgements of Mesrine's character, focusing instead on the sex, violence and publicity that he thrived upon. But it's Vincent Cassel's committed and exuberant performance that develops this meat-and-potatoes content into an unbiased character study of excess and, over all, a very fine pair of movies.

"Mesrine" may not seem to be particularly even-handed at first because of the glamour, the wisecracks, and the endless charisma, all of which are drawn from the rich stylistic tradition of the Gangster Movie, and used very skilfully in its favour. The fast pace of the story ensures we are either seduced or repulsed by the central character, and rarely anywhere in between. Sympathy or pity is irrelevant, and he is too brutal and trigger-happy to be rooted for as a regular protagonist. The first film is the slicker of the two, and the more visually satisfying due to the wonderfully stylish recreation of early 60s Paris (and elsewhere). Cassel plays Mesrine with youthful vigour here. He's all style and brash confidence, as endearing a wiseguy as any of Scorcese's characters. It's "Goodfellas", in fact, that "Killer Instinct" is most reminiscent of, with its sharp-suited mobsters (including a brilliantly grizzled Gerard Depardieu) and episodic year-hopping narrative.

By the half-way point, Mesrine is still something of an enigma. It's only in "Public Enemy No. 1" that the pace slows down and we can see, through a few intimate and contemplative scenes, what he has sacrificed to live as a superlative criminal. "I wasn't much of a son, I'm not much of a father either." he says, while in disguise visiting his own ailing father in hospital. He gradually alienates his closest friends and accomplices by trying to maintain the outlandish public profile he cultivated, rambling pseudo-revolutionary politics to journalists and threatening to kill judges and destroy all maximum security prisons. The "Goodfellas" ensemble of the first part becomes the isolated, ego-driven "Scarface" of the second as Cassel skilfully matures his character into a man resigned to the fate he knows must be coming.

The over all impression left by "Mesrine" is that it manages to land successfully between crime thriller, gangster saga and character study. This is achieved by the virtue of a standout central performance, as well as Richet's shrewd application of an American film-making style to a very French story. It ought to go down among the top crime dramas of the decade, or at the very least raise the (already decent) international profile of its impressive leading man.

TIFF 08: A young generation is forming L'instinct de mort

[jaredmobarak · 6/10 · 14 September 2008]

Star Vincent Cassel spoke about his character, the real life Jacques Mesrine, as being "a symbol of freedom and a terrible man." Before screening the world premiere of his new film's workprint cut, Cassel acknowledges Mesrine's brutal nature yet can't stop from saying he loves the role and the opportunity to sink his teeth into being a madman gangster. Based off the criminal's own memoirs, written in jail before his final escape, L'instinct de mort attempts to show the rise to prominence on the streets of the former military man. Spanning from his return home after the Algerian War for Independence to his daring escape from a high security prison, director Jean-François Richet brings us the evolution of a killer. Someone who is ashamed of his father, more loyal to friends than his own wife and children, and always looking for a high risk adventure, Mesrine lives without fear or moral consequence, leaving a wake of destruction behind him.

What happens with this film is that it tries to be a gangster tale, showing gunfights and action, but at its core is only a bio-pic. There is so much jammed into the runtime that nothing is allowed to breath or given time to evolve. Instead a problem is presented and then solved quickly in order to go on to the next. Mental feelings change on a whim often as Mesrine will be happily at home in love with wife and kids and all of a sudden, when his job is lost, becomes abusive and screams he'd pick his friends over his family any day of the week. Important relationships are glossed over so easily that you sometimes are taken out of the proceedings wondering about things that the filmmaker doesn't deem worthy of time. Then why put it in at all? If Mesrine can drop his love for family so easily, it's not like showing it is supposed to make us feel for him. No, he is cold-blooded to the bone, there is no need to pretend he may have a heart. Also, other events aren't given any time for discovery. When arrested for the first time, all we're shown is him talking about how the job may be dangerous and next thing we know he's in jail. Perhaps we don't need anymore than this, but evenso, it just makes the film seem choppy and sloppy when it really doesn't have to be. This feeling crops up right from the get-go as the opening credits involve Mesrine and his partner, played by Ludivine Sagnier, engaged in a job. This takes place in the future and I'm sure will be elaborated on in the second movie, but why show it? Just to let us know that he gets older, basically ruining any surprise if he is found in a life or death situation. All showing that scene does for us is say he will not be dying in this film.

These scenes stick out even more because the action sequences are so great. When guns are blaring and tensions are high, Richet definitely has a knack for shooting fluidly, keeping all the action in frame and coherent. Once Mesrine is caught for a second stint in jail and put in solitude, the film really gets good. Along with his friend Jean-Paul Mercier, played by The Rocket's Roy Dupuis, he hatches a plan to break out of the inescapable cage. While the actual escape is a subdued tense affair, trying to beat the clock, it is their return to try and free the rest of the inmates that creates an invigorating set-piece, one that in most films would be the showcase "out in a blaze of glory" moment. Here, though, this is just the first chapter of an eventual two-part story, so the event is allowed to live freely as an instance, either that will be successful or fail without necessarily dire consequences.

Another success is the infusion of humor throughout. Cassel lends Mesrine a very bitingly sarcastic wit that works wonders against characters like Guido, played by Gérard Depardieu, with one-liners and provoking jabs. Even when being pummeled by guards at the prison, he never bites his tongue. Other moments include a dual bank robbery, back to back and across the street; a Bonnie and Clyde type hold-up; and a fantastic kidnapping where he tries to tell the hostage it's his own fault. Cassel's delivery is pitch-perfect and tempers his volatile outbursts nicely.

As a character, Mesrine succeeds very well, he just must partake in so much within two hours that the actual activities never get enough room to stretch their legs. The fact that a second part is still to be released scares me because if all this needed to be squeezed into the first, how compressed will the new one be? The man is an intriguing one—murderer, thief, lifelong criminal—and I wish the story he encompassed here had a bit more excitement. Again, though, that's not to say L'instinct de mort is boring, it is not. The pacing is just too disjointed for an audience to invest in a story thread long enough to care before we are on to the next. This version is a workprint and maybe some more time spent could improve it, but the way it currently leads into the next installment begs the thought that it won't be changing too much at all.

A powerful thriller for an amazing true story !

[doomgen_29 · 8/10 · 30 October 2008]

We could argue for hours about the point that Richet is trying to make, is he simply celebrating and glamorizing the crazy life of Jacques Mesrine ? Is he trying to say something about the increasing presence of big brother in western countries (the patriot act in the US, cameras everywhere in the UK or the french debate about listings of people etc...)wish supposedly smothers us and would render the existence of men like Mesrine an impossibility? But in the end who cares ? The movie is an absolutely brilliant genre movie, with amazing actors at their best, an incredible recreation of seventies France, very realistic and visceral action scenes (all based on facts by the way !), and Richet's directing is very controlled, precise, you feel he knows what he wants, sort of the anti-Brett Ratner if you will, and the ambiance is spot on too. Time flew so fast when was watching the film, and now i just can't wait for the follow up which should arrive in 2009. truly great stuff !

A film you won't forget

[searchanddestroy-1 · 29 October 2008]

That's the perfect kind of film that I will place as among the favourites of my movie lover life. A realistic, brutal, ruthless crime tale which recalls the story of Jacques Mesrine, the famous gangster, the intended public enemy number one.

I won't tell you every detail of this movie, except one.

Every knows that Mesrine has fought in the Algeria war. That episode traumatized him to the deep of himself. That made him a wild beast. And when he came back, he rapidly fell into the underworld...And so on...

Of course, he hated the Arabs, and above all the "women protectors", the women slavers, hoods who lived thanks to the prostitutes. So, when one of his mistresses, or women friends - he had many -, was beaten very hard by one of those "protectors" - an Arab !!! -, Mesrine reacted

fast. Very fast. We could see his face harden itself, become a mask of stone and iron.

Guess the following...

The sequence after, when the Arab was brought into the car - driven by Mesrine - by a friend of our "hero", Mesrine watched the Arab through the driving mirror, and his mouth gave a slight smile, a cruel smile, if you considered his eyes. A smile that did not reach these eyes. Those eyes that did not smile at all. A really TERRIFYING look. Every one in the audience understood that Mesrine was going to harm this man, at the rear of the car, HARM.

REAL HARM !!!!

He was going to INJURE him.

The following two minutes are really interesting because the two main characters of the movie - Mesrine, Cassel - and his friend - Depardieu - suddenly became disgusting to the audience. In fact we realized that they were not only lovers of justice by slaying a bloody women slaver, but, above all, they were racists. F...RACISTS. They were not better than the "protector". So, in the audience, we suddenly felt some "sympathy" for the poor Arab. Just one second. We were torn between the two sides. Racists gangsters, and a disgusting mother f...who disfigured women.

Where were the good ones and where were the bad ones ???

That's what I loved the most in this film. And, of course, the actor performance of Cassel as Mesrine is outstanding.

I wait for the second episode : L'ENNEMI PUBLIC.

I Instinctively Want More

[benjamin_lappin · 6/10 · 22 September 2009]

How does one regain credentials as a director after having creating the bona fide disaster piece, that was the typically tedious Hollywood remake, "Assault On Precinct 13"? For a start you return to your roots and you return to what you know, which is precisely what director Jean-Francois Richet has done as he presents the first installment of a two part tale detailing the life of Jacque Mesrine, France's most notorious criminal. The man who was once known as France's "Public Enemy No1" provides an interesting and engaging story, as anyone of such notoriety would, as his life charts an almost unpredictable path across countries and continents but as with all literative adaptations, does it translate onto the big screen?

Well, aside from the fact that no "big screen" has shown this film, and that all viewings have been in smaller independent picture houses reserved for the cine-literate, the tongue-in- cheek answer is no. However, the answer to the serious issue is 'a bit of both'. The irony is the films major interest, that being the protagonists own story, is both its strongest feature, but one of the main contributing factors into the films fall into the category of "entertaining" as opposed to "gripping". What intrigues is that this is the real life tale of a dangerous man, that we get a glimmer into the actual horrors of these crime stories, that everything is truthful, that nothing has been unnecessarily overblown purely for the purposes of revenue. Jacques Mesrine, as frighteningly portrayed by the excellent Vincent Cassel, is a man whose life is a nonstop roller-coaster of carnage and violence, he is a man who is utterly incapable of escaping the life he leads and what's more is that he has no notions of leaving it, not even when the wife of his two children pleads with him to remain on the straight and narrow. Cassel is a commanding on screen presence, managing to evoke a charm and sense of warmth from the audience as we cheer him on in certain circumstances, then being able to switch to a cold, calculating, carefree individual while maintaining the integrity of the character. Unfortunately, while Cassel's acting brings Mesrine to life on celluloid, the story which makes up "Part I" is confined to the existence he experienced and herein lies an issue. Through no fault of the criminal in question, Richet finds himself walking into an unexpected problem that is we, as an audience, have already seen everything. We have seen a man physical abuse the one person who loves him as something more than a hired gun in Goodfellas. We have seen a character return from the army to be corrupted by the lures of the "mob" lifestyle in The Godfather. We have seen fanciful shoot out sequences in Heat. We have seen hostage taking go wrong in Dog Day Afternoon, unfortunately for Mesrine his life is nothing new to those that have already been initiated into the film world, and while retelling these specific events from his own personal standpoint is not a cardinal sin the unoriginality with which it is filmed is.

Having viewed the initial five minute opening segment of "L'instinct de mort" you can be forgiven for expecting something more slick, stylish and, frankly, French than what is presented. Those opening moments hook the viewer instantly as, what we assume to be, Mesrine and a female accomplice cautiously and carefully try and escape from the police in what is an almost Rififi-esquire moment of cinema. No words are spoken, yet a cool bass line pulses in the background as the screen is broken down into boxes which show the two individuals attempting their escape from three different angles, each running a couple of seconds out of sync with the other. It is an engrossing opening, which is sadly never followed upon throughout the following duration of the film. Why this is not done is puzzling, because it is quite clearly the most original and stylish aspect of the film. Yes there are dens, mansions and parties that provide for shady, smokey, under lighted set pieces that provide atmosphere, and at the very least a setting, but there is nothing that quite grabs you again. The compositions and angles from a directorial standpoint renege any sense of individualism becoming, in the process, much more generic as the film progresses. Jean- Francois Richet must stand accused of allowing "L'instinct de mort" to disintegrate from crisp and unique to widescreen and Hollywood.

It's difficult to completely write the film off as it manages to tell an interesting story of a man that few in this country will have heard anything about, in a way that is familiar to the westernised audiences yet carrying a hallmark of being slightly different, if not entirely left field. The advent of the gangster film en mass, however, has somewhat deadened the impact this film could otherwise have possessed as they have all in their own ways seemingly taken any originality out of, what is otherwise, a nigh on implausible unbelievable story, only held together by the simple fact that it all occurred. Richet has undertaken a brave and bold project which has been met with generally positive reviews, and rightly so, it is just a desire of the viewer to experience more than a director simply opening a book and retelling the words from within. While "L'instinct de mort" is undoubtedly an enjoyable experience, the slight feeling of disappointment would have been lessened had the director perhaps shown more faith in his film making, been a bit more brave, a bit more stylish, a bit more brutal and shown the "killer instinct" needed to make a classic.

"The Origins"/"Death Instinct": the birth of a criminal dynamo

[Chris Knipp · 9/10 · 23 February 2009]

Richet's Ma 6-T va cracker is a legend and his Carpenter re-make Assault on Precinct 13 is a fluent and explosive action update. Clearly an accomplished filmmaker with a flair for violence, he was evidently attracted by the sheer ambition of this project but also the complexity of a gangster who, flourishing at the time of the Red Brigades and Bader-Meinhof, came to think of himself as not just an outlaw but a revolutionary, who wrote two autobiographies, and thus provided material for film-making that would be both layered and epic.

This double biopic, part one in 113 minutes and part two 132 minutes, resembles Soderbergh's Che diptych. It too is neither a feature nor a mini-series, but a vanity project, a labor of love devoted to an ambiguous hero that's hard to market and unsuited to normal theatrical distribution patterns. Both parts are saddled with the biopic burden of a churning chronology and an ever-shifting cast. It's rather conventional and heavy-handed (though mostly successful) in its use of Marco Beltrami's loud surging studio music to augment excitement and heighten suspense. But it's at least as three-dimensional and logically structured as the Soderbergh project, and it has a star in Vincent Cassel who was made to play this role (Richet has said that there would be no Mesrine without him) and despite pell-mell pacing endows the protagonist with complexity. The film may be accused of jamming in too much incident and allowing too little reflection but I was impressed beyond expectations.

Richet's first part shows the formation of a super-outlaw. Mesrine's bank robberies and prison breaks are so spectacular and defiant that he's declared "Public Enemy No. 1" in two countries, Canada and France, officially one of the most famous and dangerous criminals in French history, a figure cops wet themselves over and women want to sleep with. Mesrine, both parts, is full of the sense of how intoxicating it is to live outside the law, and how deeply cinematic gangster life is. Vincent Cassel is charming, charismatic, and loyal to his accomplices as he is ruthless and violent, a complex and magnetic figure who keeps changing from one sequence to another.

The second part shows him playing the role, a media-savvy public icon who would seek front page coverage and give Paris Match an exclusive interview while on the run. Loud, kinetic sequences alternate with quiet ones. This is a great and challenging role for Vincent Cassel, the role of a lifetime, appearing in every scene over a nine-month shoot, 45 pounds put on, early sequences shot at the end with the weight gain. The cast is full of first rate actors, including Depardieu, Ludivine Sagnier, Amalric, Samuel Le Bihan, Olivier Gourmet, Cecile de France, and more. This is not only an impressive and expensive project with high production values and an excellent technical package. It's watchable and well done and at the end of Part One I was eager for Part Two.

Mesrine begins as an agent of De Gaulle's colonial ambitions as a soldier in the Algerian war. "The Marseillaise was playing when they put a gun in my hand--my hand developed a taste for guns." Like American Iraq war vets "Jacky," as his parents called him, came back to his well off upper bourgeois parents (they live in a château) unstable and hungry for violence. War has taught him to torture and murder. It's also left him with a racist hatred of Arabs. His father finds him a job but he prefers to work for a fat, tough crime boss named Guido (an excellent Gerard Depardieu, so submerged in his role he's almost unrecognizable).

Mesrine (pronounced "may-reen," not "mes-reen," as he later insists to cops and journalists) is fighting a war with the rich that may be a war with his own origins. A trip to Spain gets him a beautiful wife, Sofia (Elena Anaya). He's no good as a father, but he remains linked with his firstborn, a daughter, for the rest of his life. After a stint in jail, Mesrine gets a regular job to be there for his family. But he's laid off, and goes back to Guido. Sofia objects, and he beats her up. Sofia disappears, and the film drops that thread.

Escape from the cops leads Jacques to go to Canada with a new girlfriend, Jeanne Schneider (Cécile de France, also submerged and barely recognizable), met like the other women in his life in a bar. This one is not just a bedmate but a willing partner in crime. Denied immigration status in Canada and told to leave the country, Mesrine and Jeanne hide by becoming housekeeper and butler for a wealthy disabled man, but clashes with other staff lead them to lock him up and extort money from his son. This fails and they flee, but are extradited back to Canada from Arizona. Mesrine's subsequent hellish treatment in the Quebec Province SPC (Special Corrections Unit), worthy of Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo, is graphically depicted. This prison and escape sequence is anchors the film. With Jean-Paul Mercier (Roy Dupuis), his Quebecois accomplice from the extortion scheme, Mesrine breaks out in broad daylight. They immediately rob two banks and, keeping a promise, return to the prison armed to the teeth and attempt (unsuccessfully, but messily) to liberate the other prisoners. After this, Mesrine is declared "Public Enemy No. 1" in Canada. He has arrived. The storytelling in this first half is breathless but compelling. It is given particular coherence and focus by the vivid Canadian sequences and the prison escape.

L'Instinct de mort debuted in Paris theaters October 22, 2008. It is part of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Lincoln Center, March 2009.

Good thriller but does it lose it's grit?

[paudie · 7/10 · 7 September 2009]

This is an enjoyable thriller based on the first part of the real life of French gangster Jacques Mesrine. Mesrine is played with real menace by Vincent Cassel. We see him first in the French army during the very dirty Algerian War of Independence. Back in France after the war he turns to old criminal friends when he needs money and finds he is a natural. He comes under the wing of a local crime boss (Depardieu). I enjoyed these scenes showing the gritty French criminal underworld. We also see Mesrine as a charmer with the ladies. He marries a Spanish girl who stays with him as long as she can when she realises he is a criminal. However he eventually makes it very clear that he will choose his criminal friends over her every time. We see in graphic detail how brutal and ruthless Mesrine was and had to be to survive and rise up this world. After a spell in prison he ends up having to flee France for Montreal after making too many enemies.

Here the pace of the film changes. The director seems to feel as if he has to make use of the wide open spaces of the New World and the film becomes more of an action thriller rather than a gritty drama. Mesrine and his girlfriend kidnap a former employer and then go on the run. They are caught in Monument Valley, which makes for great visuals but seems unlikely. Back in prison Mesrine and an accomplice break out of a (supposedly) top security prison and start robbing banks. They even go back to the prison to try and help their friends escape. Wild car chases and shootouts ensue. At this stage I thought we were almost veering into "Dukes of Hazzard" territory! The film ends with the two killing two forest rangers and a promise of the rest of the Mesrine story in "Public Enemy No. 1". So not as good as I think it might have been but good enough that I will make sure to see the second film.

It gradually gets better but brings no satisfaction.

[naaiman · 5/10 · 5 January 2009]

First of all: the opening scene takes way too long, and has very little to do with the rest of the film. It might be a sneak peak at part 2 of this flick, but I found it utterly useless.

The first 30-40 minutes or so are watchable, but rarely anything special. We get to know the leading roles as they live their pretty extraordinary lives. There's only one scene that left an impression on me before the movie break: Mesrine talking and bluffing him and his friend out of a tight situation.

After the break the worst aspect of the movie is first introduced. Without giving you spoilers it's hard to explain, but let me put it this way: any time the writers/producers felt a situation might be to hard to film, or too expensive, it is just skipped. While the audience is built up to some sort of a climax, all we get to see are the consequences and not the action or process that eventually result in these consequences.

It leaves the audience with a vague feeling of being robbed. It shows that the production team wasn't willing to go all the way, or didn't have the means to do so. This way, some very crucial days, months or even years are skipped like they were nothing. The audience sometimes have to construct whole years of his life while the movie made another time jump to some meaningless event that doesn't even have half the value of some other moments that are shamelessly skipped.

Apart from the story being badly executed and the movie being French I have to say the acting was quite convincing. Almost every one delivers a quality performance. On top of that, the action-filled second part of the movie was fast-paced and enjoyable to watch.

I wouldn't recommend you seeing this movie in theaters, but it might be OK to rent on DVD sometime.

5/10

This is not any criminal, this is "Le" criminal...

[ElMaruecan82 · 9/10 · 11 March 2017]

The film opens in November 1979, Jacques Mesrine (Vincent Cassel) and his girlfriend (Ludivine Sagnier) leave their apartment. Mesrine drives past the street where he was born; not any omen to detect here, a fun coincidence at the least. His instinct fails him again when he makes way to a big truck that immediately forces him to stop. Mesrine's usually acute sense of danger is again off. It is ironic that the man who's been so attentive to his destiny couldn't see the alarming signs of the last stand-off. His luck was to change and so was his status from a living to a dead legend… still, a legend.

But like frozen by some divine intuition, Mesrine seems to realize what is bound to happen, like Sonny Corleone in "The Godfather" discovering the ambush from the toll booth. He sees the girl's Yorkshire bark at the truck, and then a firing squad (literally) aiming at him, he bulges his eyes and for the first (and maybe only) time, there is fear in his eyes, now that he met his fate, he's finally relieved from the macho pressure and can look as weak and frail as a beast cornered by the hunter. So, the manhunt ceases with the girl's scream and gunshots heard while the image fades out. The two-part gangster biopic of "Public Enemy number 1" and criminal legend Mesrine can start.

And starting with the death isn't just some artistic license from director Jean-François Richet; it allows the viewers to understand why Police didn't take any chances. It is an execution in the same cold-blooded vein than the one that ended the run of Bonnie and Clyde. Indeed, during a career that spanned almost two decades, Mesrine robbed properties, casinos and banks, kidnapped people, operated in France, Canada and Spanish islands and even jail couldn't stop him as he revealed to be a real Houdini at four separate occasions. This is not any criminal; this is 'LE' criminal, one whose record has seldom been matched, not even by American legends. The risk of such reputations is to appeal the wrong way, we can despise crime while admiring Mesrine to be a sort of self-made-man who lived the kind of turbulent lives many beta males wished to get a taste from.

And Cassel's performance is integral to this appeal that is not devoid of sexual innuendo, the risk of seeing him as a "goodfella" (Scorsese wise) is inevitable. Cassel oozes masculine charisma, with a mix of tough and gentle manners that resurrect the time of a film Robert Mitchum, he embodies in his acting this notion that great men (in terms of historical magnitude) believe in destiny and behave accordingly so. This is a guy raised in a bourgeois wealthy family with a submissive father who worked in Germany and could never take a decision without saying "your mom and I". He got his son a comfortable position in a lace factory (of all the jobs) but 'Jackie' has other plans: he's an Algerian War veteran, he pulled the trigger more than once in the name of hypocritical patriotism, and can't stand his father's submissiveness to castrating rules, he wished he could be proud of him at least once in a scene that echoes James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause". Jacquie was a born rebel.

When he gets the 'call of the wild', Mesrine establishes himself as a true natural. He's a cocky and oddly persuasive son of a gun. During his first robbery, the house owners come but he keeps his cool and pretends to be a police officer. He is immediately introduced to Guido (Gérard Depardieu) a member of the anti-De Gaulle Secret Army, Guido grows fond on the kid and becomes his mentor, teaching him the value of respect, among many other things. And under his guidance, Mesrine makes his bones in a series of scenes that channel directors like Martin Scorsese, John Woo or Jean-Pierre Melville, without glamorizing him. Mesrine isn't just some gun-wielding womanizer, he is racist, he knifes an Arab mackerel and buries him alive and threatens his wife and mother of three children with a gun on her mouth, if she dares to call Police. It'll always be his buddies before her.

And this virile allegiance sets the tone for the rest of the film that can be regarded as a series of robberies, shootouts and periods in jail, something that can be deemed as gangster routine in a 2008 film, but not with the revitalizing performance of Cassel, from beginning to end. The action scenes are top notch but never as fascinating as their effect on Mesrine's personality and his slow but inevitable descent into the crimes that don't get you jail sentences. This is the kind of performances that are severely overlooked by international awards, but it is in the same level of Oscar-worthy intensity than Marion Cotillard in "La Vie en Rose", there's not one second in the screen where you're not glued to Cassel and see in the expressive eyes, such mixed feelings of anger, pride, cockiness and hammy self-awareness. It is very revealing that the words he has for the Canadian press after his arrest, is "Long Live free Quebec" echoing De Gaulle's famous speech. Indeed, Mesrine, a born show-man, belonged to an era that forged larger-than-life characters like De Gaulle, it is only fitting that the criminal world had someone on the same dimension. There wouldn't be one like De Gaulle, and certainly not one like Mesrine.

After all, isn't the movie adapted from a book he wrote himself? Mesrine cared enough to leave a legacy that he wrote it himself. That a film was adapted from it says it all, and that one movie wasn't enough to cover everything says even more about his magnitude, not just as an infamous gangster but as one of the most defining real-life figures of French recent history.

A real-event-story elevated by fine leading performance

[BeneCumb · 8/10 · 29 October 2018]

/refers to both parts/

In general, I am not much into biographical crime films/series as I tend to know the outcome and then a big and important moment of thrill is lost. On the other hand, such works include less hare-brained and fabulous scenes which purpose is to "entertain" viewers and enhance "excitement". True, Jacques Mesrine´s life was crazy enough, plus showing the weakness of Western societies to deal with hard criminals and lack of technological opportunities to protect valuables. The script here is often uneven, with some excessive dialogues followed by (too) fast chases, but the performance of Vincent Cassel is always zestful, and one can have reasonably good overview of life in some countries in the 1960-70ies. For me, a nice change for stuff happening recently or to-be happened in the distant future - if bearing in mind sci-fi films and series.

Heavy, ambitious biopic of infamous French criminal

[wellthatswhatithinkanyway · 7/10 · 17 February 2010]

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Surely one of the most high profile French films of recent time, Jean Francois Richoet's lengthy dramatization of our continental cousin's most infamous criminal is split into two parts to avoid wearing out the viewer's attention span and to provide some suspense for part two. For the first part, France's hottest acting talent at the moment, in the shape of Vincent Cassel, has crafted an impression of Mesrine as an arrogant, cavalier crook, who is loyal to his friends, even if they are hookers and cons, and a bas*ard to those he chooses to toss aside. He really brings the role to life, though, and injects it with his own vitality and flair.

The length alone should show how thorough Richoet has been with his source material and it certainly feels like you've been in a long way by the end. It's a worthy ride, though, and although not coming off as unforgettable, it's still an admirable ride. ***

a good blockbuster of a famous French criminal

[wvisser-leusden · 8/10 · 13 December 2009]

Jacques Mesrine (1936 - 1979) was a well-known French criminal, getting himself a name for robbing banks and a number of murders. After having received a huge ransom for kidnapping a French millionaire in 1979, French authorities declared him 'Public Enemy Number One'. They increased their efforts to track Mesrine down, and executed him without a trial shortly afterwards. While imprisoned earlier on, Mesrine wrote his autobiography.

'Public Enemy Number One - Part 1' reflects the first part of this criminal's adult life. Starting in the late fifties in Algeria, where French soldier Jacques Mesrine served in the foul war of independence, we get a clear picture of his development as a master-criminal.

Although I think it difficult to judge the historical precision of its plot, this very French film surely makes a good watch. Male lead Vincent Cassel acts a convincing Jacques Mesrine, and the many supporting roles shine with equal quality. The parts 1 and 2 of 'Public enemy Number One' provide a real blockbuster that sticks to the mind.

For the fans of Ludivine Sagnier. She isn't in this Part 1, but will appear in Part 2.

It ain't a good day

[mmunier · 2 February 2010]

I won't recount the story for two reasons, one, I'm pretty hopeless at it and 2 it's here so many times already. My wife thought it might be something special so we and another couple decided to see the two parts (with dinner in between them!) I had no idea about the story being a true story and as I read on IMDb it was largely accomplished with the help of Mesrime's (May reem, don't you forget about it) book written in jail and on his own admission a little embellished! There's no doubt that from the beginning the film grabs you hard the innovative presentation on split screens worked very well for me and I agree with other reviewers I could have seen more of it during the rest of the screening. The filming, music and pace are very good. The content is strong and repetitive, but if you know this is what actually happened it helps. So all in its horror it was extremely entertaining and we went for our dinner. I had difficulty to imagine how much more could be developed in part 2 and hoped that it would be different and worth creating a part 2 I would have like to know a little more about other story characters. Well it did not happen, at least for me, I know that some will or have enjoyed the second part. Instead I really think these two stories could have definitely be merged into one. And I would probably see more value in watching part one once more. However if you've been fascinated by the character in part 1 and want some more, almost like going for second with a nice dish, It's OK, else, perhaps you'd have better things to do.

A Botched Job

[radioheadrcm · 6/10 · 29 August 2010]

Mesrine: Killer Instinct shoots to cover more than a decade of the life of Jacques Mesrine, as he becomes a famous burglar, bank robber, kidnapper, and prison escapee (who later attempted breaking back into prison to fulfill a promise). If captured correctly, this should be fascinating material. But Richet, in the vein of the recent Public Enemies, really only gives us a series of rushed vignettes through Mesrine's life, and offers very little insight towards the titular character.

Throughout the film, we see repeated examples of Mesrine's strange, but strong moral code, and his romantic and passionate nature. Richet clearly wants us to empathize with Mesrine, but due to his pacing and his decisions of where to allocate time, he largely fails at making the character breathe. For example, in one scene he loses his wedding ring in a poker game. In the next shot, we see him get into a car and ponder the absence of the ring, and what it meant for him. The only problem is, the entire shot lasts less than seven seconds, including the time it took for him to get into the car. To further his redundancy, Richet next shows us the Paris skyline of the next morning, but instead of giving the audience a moment to gather what they just saw, he changes the shot three seconds later, and rushes us through the next scene. Richet attempts to make up for lost time towards the end, by spending more time in the prison sequences, but it's too late. By that point, the film is nearly over and he'd rushed through (and even skipped over) all of the dramatic tension that makes films worth watching.

Normally, a filmmaker would make such pacing decisions to achieve a sort of atmospheric or psychological effect, as seen in Requiem for a Dream, or Tetsuo, the Iron Man. Richet's motivation only seems to be a lack of time, and perhaps effort. On the positive side, the performances are pretty solid all around, and if you get bored during any segment, don't fret it, it'll be over soon.

More than just an amazing gangster movie

[kluseba · 9/10 · 20 August 2011]

The two Mesrine movies are easily the best gangster movies of the last years and can without a doubt be described as the French Godfathers even though the two films have not exactly the same class as the legendary masterpieces.

The thing that is really interesting about this movie is that it is told after true events and partially based on the autobiography of the French gangster and public enemy number one Jacques Mesrine. The movie makes very clear that one can't develop much sympathy for the character but his radical way of life, his brutal honesty and his strong and dangerous emotions surely create a very addicting, explosive and unique character.The first movie tells his life from his actions during the Algerian War up to his escape from a prison in Quebec.

The character is introduced in a very interesting way. One witnesses his first theft, his first murder as well as his first escapes from prison but also how he gets into the crime scene, how he gets to know his second wife and how he gets along as his role as a father of three children with her. Mesrine always chooses the craziest, most radical and often most selfish way to escape from his problems. This movie is not just a gangster saga filled with action and tension but has also an emotional touch of the drama genre and some dark and sarcastic humour.

Mesrine is perfectly portrayed by one of the best contemporary actors coming from France which is Vincent Cassel. Roy Dupuis plays the very charismatic Canadian terrorist and Mesrine's âme soeur Jean-Paul Mercier. The French acting crème de la crème appears in this first part of the legacy. Cécile de France plays Mesrine's future girlfriend and partner in crime that finally decides to chose the path of freedom and justice. Gérard Depardieu plays the intelligent gangster boss Guido. Ludivine Sagnier portrays Mesrine's latest girlfriend and excels in her role as a superficial blonde with fixations on a bourgeoisie lifestyle. The acting of this movie is really stunning and every actor plays his or her role close to perfection.

The movie also discusses topics such as love, friendship, treason, loyalty, respect and more in a very intense way and how Mesrine feels about it. He is a very extreme personality and some of his actions contradict what he has already done or will do in the future and this shows how fragile this gangster really is.

The greatness of this movie does not stop there. The part of the movie when Mesrine is put into a French Canadian prison is very intense. It is not only well filmed with interesting camera positions and cold, touching decorations but reminds me of legendary prison movies such as "Papillon" or "The Shawshank Redemption" and contains some well hidden but intense criticism. Mesrine's escape from prison eventually led to the closure of those inhuman French Canadian prisons and this movie shows us the way of life in this hell in a very intense way. The movie also slightly criticizes the corruptive justice and police in France as well as the way how the medias deal with Mesrine's fate and make an iconic modern Robin Hood out of a dangerous and ignorant gangster that begins to use the medias for his own good and enjoys the show.

As you can see, the movie contains many different elements and details that make it a very diversified, intense and still entertaining gangster movie which happens to be one of the best of its kind. If you like "The Godfather", "Once Upon A Time In America", "Papillon" and "The Shawshank Redemption" you should definitely check this masterpiece out. If you happen to like this movie, you should absolutely try to get the German gangster and terrorist movie "Der Baader-Meinhof-Komplex" which is also based on true events and happened at the same time as Mesrine became the public enemy number one in France. The French movie has also some connections to those events as Mesrine talks from time to time about it as you should have noticed.

In the end, this movie about an extreme and charismatic character is way more than an excellent gangster movie with some social criticism but a gripping two hours of history class.

The only reason why I didn't give the highest possible note is that I would have liked to learn more about the youth of Mesrine. For example, the movie didn't show us his very first wife and how he quit her to go to the Algerian War. It didn't show us how he got honoured by the French government and military for his heroic actions during wartime. It didn't show us how he got caught the first time during a bank theft and how he dealt with it. Those little elements could have made the character even more intense, profound and interesting but a part of that, there is really nothing negative about this amazing movie.

Cassell In Spain

[writers_reign · 6/10 · 7 August 2009]

I've never made a secret of my antipathy to Vincent Cassell and the small group of directors specializing in violence who form his personal friends in real life and this film does absolutely nothing to change my opinion. I accept that it has been lauded and won awards but we live in a democracy and people are free to praise as they see fit. I often wonder what Cassell will do in late middle or old age when the violent roles dry up because he apparently has an acting range of about A to E unlike say, Gerard Depardieu who co-stars here and began his own career playing violent yobs in things like Les Valseuses but can actually play other things not least a middle-aged crooner as he did in Quand J'Etais chanteur a couple of years ago. Mesrine - which actually improves very little on the previous biopic of the same name produced in 1984 - will no doubt score with its target audience, 14 - 30 year olds already living in a gang culture or else aspiring to do so. Technically it's well done and it is, for the most part, true: There was an anti-social person named Jacques Mesrine who did live a violent life and met an equally violent death in 1970s France; technically accomplished, yes, entertainment, no.

The French Clyde Barrow

[dharmendrasingh · 9/10 · 17 November 2010]

It is true that Jacques Mesrine (Vincent Cassel) was France's public enemy number one during the 60s and 70s. It is also true that he murdered several people, robbed banks, repeatedly escaped from prison, and basically did all the things that legendary criminals aspire to do. But to think of him as just another criminal would be an unreasonable caricature.

In this first half of the notorious gangster's life, director Jean-Francois Richet evinces the louche charm of the French criminal underworld in an effort to depict Jacques in a sympathetic light.

After a troubling time soldiering in the Algerian War, Jacques returns to Paris, where before long his sense of dissatisfaction takes charge of him and he accepts a friend's offer of 'off-the-book work', i.e. crime.

He is introduced to Guido (Gerard Depardieu), the head of a right-wing terrorist group operating in France's underworld. Guido recruits him, but warns that 'In our business, you don't win'. Depardieu plays his role with quiet brilliance. His acting is understated, yet he manages to be eerily menacing.

While on holiday Jacques, in a manner that would rival a James Bond-style seduction, beguiles then later marries his Spanish wife, Sofia (Elena Anaya). His sojourn is curtailed, however, when he goes back to Paris to murder the Arab pimp of a former lover.

That Jacques is a ruthless, relentless recidivist is never for one moment hidden. He may be a gangster, who violently casts aside his wife for his friends, but this is a man of principle, albeit criminal principle. He steals only from banks because, in his words, they have enough money to allow it; he never kills a person if they are unarmed; and he fulfills his promise to liberate his ex-prison inmates once he has successfully escaped himself. It is precisely these paradoxes which never quite allow you to feel that he is completely worthless.

He is finally jailed (on the first of several occasions) for a botched bank robbery. When he is released, he makes an attempt to 'go straight'. However, he is easily lured back and teams up with a new muse, Jeanne (Cecile De France), who displays a similar adroitness for crime. Jacques is now a celebrity, admired by the press, but demonised by the authorities.

The film's director claimed that only Cassel could have embodied this role. It is indeed the sheer magnetism of Cassel's portrayal that compels you to watch the second instalment.

www.scottishreview.net

Epic bloody biopic of French gangster Jacques Mesrine

[IWasKnownAsThe1SentenceReviewer · 7/10 · 25 March 2022]

Epic bloody biopic of French gangster Jacques Mesrine superbly interpreted by Cassel (Don't be fooled by the subtitles: Public Enemy No. 1 is actually Part 2...)

an awful movie about an awful man

[irwinnormal · 1/10 · 29 March 2011]

without any coherence, mesrine, follows the hollow life of the hollow sociopath and murderer, mesrine. After a nearly unwatchable opening sequence; the movie starts in earnest with the torture and murder of algerian rebels who, fighting for independence in their own country, get tied by chains to ceilings and then are shot by the protagonist.

A lovely man, from the start. One can tell.

He returns to France, then after losing his paycheck playing cards, turns to a life of crime; robbing houses and brutally murdering despicable pimps before winding up in prison for, robbing a bank.

He puts a gun in his wife's mouth when she asks him not to continue on this path, witnessed by his daughter who yet, still 'loves him'

All the while, sad orchestral music bemoans the fate of the hardened criminal who must life a life on the run, handsome and behind the wheels of fancy cars, with remarkably beautiful who have fallen hopelessly in love with (at first sight) him.

It is the tale of a poor man from a middle class french family, who despises arabs, and steals from the innocents, all because his father was beholden to his mother and had no 'balls' It's a good thing that they are still making movies like this; ala American Gangster, glorifying/deifying murderers. So, if that's your thing, respect at the price of decency, by any means; ruthless murder and the disgusting glorification of it, by all means, this is the movie for you.

Someone might, (if justice ever prevailed) commandeer all the revenue from this sickening film, and give it to poor children for school and books.