In 1973, Jacques Mesrine (Vincent Cassel) is back in France with a new robbery crew and new girlfriend Sylvia Jeanjacquot (Ludivine Sagnier). They are arrested but he escapes during court. He continues his criminal activities until police detective Broussard tracks him down. He's finally put in prison. He reconnects with his daughter and writes a book about his exploits. He befriends fellow inmate François Besse (Mathieu Amalric) and with others, escapes once again. He starts courting the media as a revolutionary. He kidnaps billionaire Henri Lelièvre and finally in 1979, he is gunned down in an ambush.

Vincent Cassel is great. This is a string of chaos and crimes. It's insane that he keeps escaping. It's violence and crimes without relief. It's not really a glossy crime drama but it does not let up. Again like Part 1, I would suggest a better medium for the material would be television. It allows the characters to breathe and the story to build.

I'm guessing, that you have watched the first part, before you go on and read any reviews about Part 2 of Mesrine. A reviewer wasn't satisfied, because the movie seems like a 200+ min movie cut in half. Well I guess the user is right, but should that affect your rating/how you like the movie?

I don't think so, but then again, you have to make up your own mind. The movie itself is based on the real life character, portrayed greatly by Vincent Cassel. Unfortunately you get reminded quite a few times how this movie will end. Which is OK, for the french audience who already know how the story ended, but for people like me, who didn't know that much about the person, it was kind of a spoiler.

Still even though I knew, what was going to happen, the ending was filled with tension. It is shot and edited in a great manner and kept me on the edge of my (cinema) seat. And even as I was telling myself, that the ending was obvious, I still couldn't stop from being excited. Maybe it's only me, but this deserves your attention, even if it's only on the small screen (TV).

After escaping from the authorities in Quebec Mesrine is back in France but he hasn't retired from a life of crime; he is still robbing banks and after escaping from court once again is declared 'Public Enemy Number One'. When caught again he vows to escape and a few years later he does just that. On the run with fellow escapee François Besse they calmly go into Deauville police station claiming to be police from Paris so they can determine what they will be up against before robbing a casino! This time it looks as if half the police in France are after them but they get away by taking a family hostage... then paying them for the trouble. After they split up; Jacques returns to Paris where he meets the beautiful Sylvie. He also meets up with old friend Charly Bauer, who is now a revolutionary. More crimes and mayhem follow until the film end just the way part one began; with Mesrine and Sylvie driving through Paris until gunmen opened fire on their car... this time though we learn who it was that shot him and whether he or Sylvie survived.

If you've not seen the first part of this story yet it is advisable to watch it first as that provides the necessary introduction to Mesrine; no time is wasted here introducing him again. This may be based on a true story but it is just as exciting as most fictional thrillers in not more so... many events that occur would seem far-fetched in a work of fiction but what we see here really happened! That of course can be a problem too; Mesrine is a charismatic character but he can also be brutal and knowing certain events really happened is disturbing; this is particularly true in the scene where he beats and then shoots a journalist. As in the first film actor Vincent Cassel gives a brilliant performance as Jacques Mesrine and he is ably supported by the likes of Ludivine Sagnier and Mathieu Amalric who play Sylvie and François respectively. There are some extremely brutal moments but if you can get through those this pair of films make a gripping story that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to adult viewers.