L'Ennemi public № 1

Magnifique. Comparé à l'unité, il s'agit d'un FILM complet, où la brillance technique va de pair avec le contenu. Vincent Cassel livre ici une performance vraiment remarquable en incarnant Mesrine dans toutes ses facettes, ce qui, contrairement à l'unité, prend un sens psychologique. Son personnage semble se développer véritablement dans ce film. Le film maintient un rythme constant, alternant habilement l'action et la vie personnelle du personnage, et puisant également davantage dans les personnages secondaires. Je ne donne pas une note parfaite simplement parce que Mesrine était un peu un idiot criminel, et peu importe à quel point vous le filmez avec talent, vous ne toucherez pas les étoiles. (01/07/2009)

Part one was dynamic, stylish, raw, and absolutely riveting in its austere brevity. Part two is also raw, but except for the opening escapades, it is calmer, more compact, and the atmosphere has your nerves stretched to the extreme most of the time, but it is also more descriptive (but not literal). Most importantly, we finally begin to understand Mesrine’s complex character. Together, they are two joined vessels forming one perfect four-hour whole, which in my eyes has become the new quality benchmark for evaluating crime sagas. ♫ OST score: 5/5 (29/01/2009)

In terms of film quality, Public Enemy #1 is fully comparable to the first film in the series, and that is, after all, logical since the same team, starting with the director and ending with the last actor, came together once again for this. The film portrays the last ten years of the legendary French gangster Mesrine. It is as long of a time span as the first part, but due to Mesrine moving from country to country, it feels somewhat fragmented. It also seemed to me that the sequel is slightly more action-packed. Although it is a very high-quality gangster film, I cannot give it five stars for the same reason as the first one. Public Enemy #1 is longer, but that still wasn't enough to produce a worthy opponent within the ranks of the police and justice system or to significantly get to Mesrine's accomplices. Overall impression: 85%. (28/11/2009)

Interesting opinions and attitudes, well sketched characters and an even deeper study of Mesrine than the opening volume, which was much more engaging and plot-driven. The only thing that really grips and resonates in the epilogue is the finale itself, but we know the basics of that from the second minute of the first episode. (21/10/2015)

More or less right after the first episode ended, I watched Mesrine Part 2: Public Enemy No. 1. And it probably wasn't a happy decision. The second part of Public Enemy has the same positives as its predecessor - it is well shot and Vincent Cassel excels in it, whose masks may remind some of Al Pacino in Serpico. There are a lot of impressive scenes in the film, especially the "hunt for Mesrine" passage is very good, but there is often also plenty of boredom. Mostly in the moments when Mesrine talks about the revolution. The screenwriters seem to have tried to show us Mesrine's inner self in this film, but from my point of view they did the worst job of it they could - they made me believe even more that the man was just an ordinary conceited kid who never grew up. So I was just waiting for what I saw at the beginning of the first film to happen. Before it happened, I was alternately bored and amused, wondering what good the kidnapping of the billionaire was, and concluding that it was absolutely useless (in real life and in the film), and regretting that Police Inspector Broussard was given so little space. Then came the final stakeout. During the course of it, it became clear why it was not wise to play the films one after the other. There is nothing new (in terms of content) in that scene, and it is so, so long. Again, any kind of point was missing, and unfortunately I didn't take anything away from the shocking ending. Three stars this time - a nicely shot average. (02/07/2011)

Ayant vu l’original il y a des années, il m’a fallu le revoir pour me le remémorer avant de passer au numéro deux. Le premier film m’a emballé tout autant qu’il l’avait fait la première fois, mais le deuxième, tout en maintenant le cap, m’a semblé légèrement ramolli. Au risque d’être trop strict, je vais donc lui mettre une étoile de moins. Mais avant tout, je vais souligner les prestations d’acteurs avec un sans-faute de Depardieu dans la première partie, lequel laisse la place à Matthieu Amalric dans la deuxième, tout aussi brillant. Et ce ne sont pas les stars françaises et belges qui manquent dans ces films. Sans vouloir me répéter une fois de plus, je ferai à nouveau remarquer que la vieille école française continue d’assurer au troisième millénaire. Soit dit au passage, j’ai été inspiré quand Ludivine a crié « Jacques ! Jacques ! » avec tant d’éloquence… :-) (29/10/2016)