HARD to believe but the second part of Jean-Francois Richet’s gangster epic on French criminal Jacques Mesrine may just be better than the first.

Where Killer Instinct took us on a rapid journey through Mesrine’s rise, Public Enemy No.1 takes a little more time to explore the psychology behind the gangster’s reign.

On this occasion, he has accepted who he is and, by extension, what fate inevitably holds in store for him. And it’s during these insights into the criminal mind that Vincent Cassel really excels.

The actor continues to imbue the character with a fierce ambiguity – charming, charismatic and devil-may-care one minute, ruthless, violent and unpredictable the next.

Viewers are left in no doubt that this was a criminal whose acts could be as abhorrent as they were audacious. And yet he remains a mesmerising presence to be around, a maverick who felt victimized by the state, and who was ultimately gunned down by people even more violent and less tolerant than himself.

Set in the period from 1974 to his assassination in 1979, the film picks up as Mesrine is back in France, and in police custody, facing justice for his crimes.

After escaping a courtroom and kidnapping the judge at gunpoint, however, Mesrine is declared Public Enemy No.1 and finds an adversary in dogged pursuer, Commander Broussard.

Broussard soon corners Mesrine who is condemned to a maximum security prison where he writes his first memoirs, establishing himself as a household name and anti-hero across France.

With fellow inmate Francois Besse (Mathieu Amalric) he stages another daring escape and disappears into the lawless underworld, taunting the police and reinventing himself as a celebrity criminal through his savvy manipulation of the media.

Richet’s film works on so many levels that it’s difficult to heap enough praise on it.

The performances are exemplary, the recreations searingly authentic and the various kidnappings and bank robberies jaw-droppingly exciting.

Even the final moments, which chronicle the assassination of Mesrine from the police officers’ perspectives, are brilliantly done, lending the film and its main character a poignancy and lasting impression you may not have initially seen coming.

Yet Mesrine is not a celebration of gangster culture or violence, but rather a complex examination of an enigmatic individual that demands close attention from viewers.

Of the supporting performances, former Bond villain Amalric is on great form as Mesrine’s ally, while Ludivine Sagnier provides a deeply alluring presence as his love interest… a woman who wants nothing more than to escape the lifestyle she feels sure will get them both killed.

But it’s Cassel who will deservedly get most of the plaudits, delivering a powerhouse performance that deserves to rank among the greats in the genre.

Put back-to-back, meanwhile, the Mesrine films deserve to be hailed as a masterpiece.

In French, with subtitles

Certificate: 15
Running time: 2hrs 13mins
UK Release Date: August 28, 2009

• Delicious
• Digg
• Reddit
• Facebook
• Stumbleupon