Jean-Francois Richet directs Vincent Cassel, Cecile De France and Ludivine Sagnier in this epic look at France’s infamous criminal anarchist globe and decade crossing crime spree.

“If there’s ever a film titled Bourne vs. Mesrine, the bout will end in the first round and the crown will return to Paris.” Roger Ebert, 2008. Close but no thumbs up Ebert … but you are right, Cassel is electrifying in his ever dominating 4 hours of screentime as the unpredictable, charming, vicious and unfiltered robber, kidnapper and terrorist. Mesrine, a sociopath with dozens of real life deaths to his name,  might be a troubling subject for such a lengthy celebration (warts and all, but it is a pleasurably amoral party and award ceremony for the voyuer) but to be honest as presented here his unique élan and sheer balls out mayhem deserves the big screen treatment. The only shame is aside from Cassel’s magnificently shifting turn and some big budget action, the mini-series length becomes a little deadening. The often chronological order means the film’s flits between Mesrine doing something outrageous then something not quite as outrageous then something outrageous in 1973 but now cliched cinematically after decades of Scarfaces, Goodfellas and Choppers… and then back to something genuinely shockingly outrageous. A loop of mania and jaw drops of varying numbing severity. It might really work better over four or five more textured hour episode, adding room to gasp in and out between that breathless rush. But then, like Tinkerbell on coke and champagne, lovely, captivating Ludivine Sagnier turns up for the last hour and unleashes some furious screen burn hotness on us, distracting us from Mesrine’s desperate cycle. She needs to be in more films, she is a true movie star, you can’t take your eyes off her whenever she’s on screen (and in a film with a high 60-70s style bimbo and “Bonnie” proof…. that is unabashed praise to walk away with come final credits). Still their violent comeuppance is expertly handled from different points of view throughout the lengthy structure. If there were a few more rest breaks this truly would be a gripping afternoon of crime time cinema.

7/6