DVD Review- MESRINE: PUBLIC ENEMY #1

MESRINE: PUBLIC ENEMY #1

DVD Review by David Blackwell

DETAILS: 134 minutes, original theatrical trailer, previews

VIDEO: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)

AUDIO: French 5.1 (original language) Dolby Digital, English 5.1 DD (dubbed)

Subtitles: English

STUDIO: Music Box Films/ M6 Films/ Canal+/ TPS Films/ 120 Films

DVD RELEASE DATE: 3-29-2011

MESRINE: KILLER INSTINCT DVD review

PUBLIC ENEMY #1 is the second film in the MESRINE story about real-life French bank robber Jacques Mesrine. This movie follows the last six years of Mesrine's as he escapes from prison two more times and does more bank robberies in addition to another kidnapping for ransom. He also falls for a girl named Sylvia who doesn't want to be left alone and have Mesrine end up dead. PUBLIC ENEMY #1 sees Mesrine more and more buying into his own ego as he thinks he is going to bring down the system while the person he kidnaps hits it right by saying Mesrine is a gangster.

The second Mesrine film is as good as the first film while providing a fitting conclusion for an ego-driven bank robber who loved fame and fed on it while he drove everyone away in the end except Sylvia. Vincent Cassel is great as Mesrine as he portrays the complexities and ego that ultimately lead to this criminal's end. I do wish they didn't show the end of Mesrine's life as the first scene in both movies. I rather had the director show the end at the end of this two part saga. The only fault of PUBLIC ENEMY #1 is that I wish they developed the character of Broussard more because Broussard is the cop who will stop at nothing to stop Mesrine. I wanted something more of a cat and mouse game like you see between Pacino and DeNiro in HEAT where the second MESRINE is still ultimately about Mesrine where I think knowing more about Broussard would have made this film even greater.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The extras are previews for other films from Music Box Films and a trailer for the Mesrine films. I would have loved a couple of featurettes on the making of the film and something about the real Mesrine. I wish Music Box would step up and actually provide some extras for their films.

FINAL ANALYSIS: PUBLIC ENEMY #1 is the wonderfully flawed second half of the MESRINE saga.

this DVD review is (c)6-3-2011 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com