Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1
Music Box Films | Release Date: September 3, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The films never lose sight of Mesrine the man, a fascinating character in that he's brutal yet extremely intelligent, has a skewed but discernible conscience, and, under the right circumstances, can be warm and generous. Read full review
90
NPRMark Jenkins
Any film about a flashy criminal threatens to glamorize its protagonist, but both Mesrine episodes are careful to detail the many goofs made by the crook and his accomplices. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen Holden
The story is deepened with a distinctively European political subtext as the increasingly grandiose Mesrine engages in a running dialogue with various characters about the differences between gangsters and revolutionaries. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
In most movies, we know the police bullets will never find their target. With Mesrine, (1) sometimes they do, and (2) in real life, he survived an incredible 20 years with the police firing at him at least annually. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
Public Enemy openly raises the question of why officers of the law hated Mesrine so much that they were willing to turn his death into a block party. Read full review
80
EmpireKim Newman
An instant gangster classic. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreJan 19, 2011
The lack of dramatic tension that knowing the ending before you being creates isn't a huge drawback. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Cassel, who won a Cesar (France's equivalent to the Oscar) for his performance, invests the character with a grounding of humanity and honor that imply there are certain lines even Mesrine would never cross. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Although Killer Instinct is the better of the two parts, Public Enemy No. 1 is a worthy continuation, providing closure to a tale that was interrupted just as things were getting really interesting. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Deftly filmed and directed by Jean-François Richet. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Director Jean-Francois Richet shows a career in crime with pulse-pounding moments of pure cinema, then lets you decide what to make of this homicidal sociopath. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
Performs the unlikely trick of being both taut and plotless. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Vincent Cassel sets a new standard for Gallic cool as the title character. Read full review
65
MovielineMichelle Orange
The main and most enjoyable difference between the second installment and the first is the greater opportunity the latter provides Cassel to sketch some dimension into the coded mythologizing of his character. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
By the end, Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 has turned nearly as flabby as its aging antihero. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
Simply skip the first part entirely: "Killer Instinct" bulges with a disconnected jumble of nightclub attacks and fence-clipping escapes you've seen better elsewhere. Yet a tide change happens with the superior Public Enemy No. 1, which takes the subject's raging ego as its cue. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNicolas Rapold
Mesrine's promised end in November 1979 arrives as history recorded it, but, by that time, you're hoping the next vogue in biopics is the short film. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The second film, in particular, grows tediously episodic, and the exploits become a blur. What never blurs is Mr. Cassel's presence. We're told that he bulked up for the part-though Mesrine was many things, lithe wasn't one of them-but it's his phenomenal zest for his checkered character that fills the screen. Read full review
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