Like 'Mesrine: Killer Instinct'? Scarecrow suggests other Vincent Cassel movies

Note: Anyone correctly guessing the number of times the word "Mesrine" appears in this earns a small dose of satisfaction, as well as our respect.

In the 1970s, France's "Public Enemy No. 1" was Jacques Mesrine (pronounced "May-REEN"), a former soldier, inveterate thief, kidnapper and bank robber. So nefarious was Mesrine that he rather comically resorted to wearing numerous disguises throughout his criminal career. He once stormed a bank, then immediately went right across the street and knocked over another. He also broke out of a Canadian prison in broad daylight, then returned a few weeks later with some machine guns and took a shot at busting out a couple of his pals.

Such travails are immortalized in the new, two-part, four-hour-plus epic "Mesrine" (part one is subtitled "Killer Instinct," opening Friday; part two, subtitled "Public Enemy No. 1," opens Sept. 3). Jacques is played by noted French thespian (and husband to Monica Bellucci) Vincent Cassel. He's in pretty much every scene, and it's a daring, energetic performance designed mainly to wow you with his criminal audacity. You might remember Cassel from his turns as the shifty master thief antagonizing George Clooney and the gang in the highly amusing and recommended "Ocean's Twelve" and "Ocean's Thirteen."

One of our favorite roles of Cassel's is that of a psychopathic Russian gangster in David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises," which also features Naomi Watts as a nurse trying to protect a baby from the mob, and Viggo Mortensen as a guy who can kill you in all kinds of ways even if he's naked (see the film if you want that reference to make sense). Like "Mesrine," it's a violent, pulpy thriller, but it spends a lot more time on the inner workings of the criminal underworld, and Cassel gets a lot less screen time.

On another track, what with "Mesrine" being two distinct films, we thought we'd encourage you to check out Steven Soderbergh's "Che," another two-part biopic, this one of noted Central American communist revolutionary and hipster T-shirt staple Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Che is assayed by Benicio Del Toro in an incredible performance, but what really makes "Che" a unique film is its take on the subject. The films are less historical biographies than they are, taken together, an exploration of the political ideas behind Guevara's revolutionary activities and his value to that movement both as an executor of policy and as a symbol. It's very slow and dry, certainly not to all tastes, but nonetheless extremely insightful if you have the patience for it.

Incidentally, there was an earlier attempt to immortalize Mesrine on film, this one in 1984, under the equally apt title "Mesrine." It's only one film long, though.

Final count on the use of "Mesrine": nine (including that one and the one in the introductory note).

Contributed by Scarecrow Video, 5030 Roosevelt Way N.E., Seattle; 206-524-8554 or www.scarecrow.com