The director of Gang Story, Olivier Marchal, has made quite a few films and shows with a crime theme, including 36 starring Daniel Auteuil and Gerard Dépardieu, as well as the TV show Braquo. It's just as well he knows his stuff, coming as he does from a police background, where he used to serve as an officer.

This story though, based on true events, sees Marchal focusing on the criminal element; in particular the infamous Lyon gang that blighted the law throughout the seventies and onwards with their numerous bank jobs.

It seems like destiny brought youngsters Edmund Vidal (Gerard Lavin) and Serge Suttel (Tcheky Karyo) for the sole purpose of committing crimes. Just as they did as children, they've spent the rest of their lives looking out for each other, particularly when it comes to stealing things.

The pair were caught and punished harshly in their youth for stealing a box of cherries, for which, somewhat incredibly, they served time. From that point on, you could say that had a taste for stealing.

But over the years, you don't become successful without stepping on a number of toes – both on the side of the law and the criminal world – without a certain amount of repercussions. And although the Lyon gang made a name for themselves back in the day, Videl and the rest of his crew soon learn that you never really know who your real friends are.

Hey calm down, he wasn't being funny, you really do have some milk in your beard.

Although Marchal has a proven track record of getting inside the mind of the law, he appears to struggle getting into that of the criminal with this film.

He doesn't make it easy on himself with is structure though; instead of just playing out the rise of the Lyon gang from past to present, Marchal attempts to tell the story of the past and present concurrently. This plays out with a film littered with flashbacks. For whatever reason though, this structure doesn't improve the story in any way. If anything it actually interferes with it. Just as you're getting a handle on what's happening during present day, a flashback interrupts the flow.

And if that wasn't enough, Marchal manages something quite unique by creating a French film without any sense of emotion, which is some feat considering. All the characters seem to be too scared to show any personality in fear of it challenging their masculinity. You could have replaced the majority of the cast with Action Men figures and no-one would have known the difference.

It's a shame as the story, based on the real, infamous Lyon gang, certainly merited being told. Unfortunately it's told in such a cumbersome way that it falls short of being in the same criminal league as something like Mesrine.

Perhaps if Marchal wants to make a truly great crime film, he'll have to get deeper under the skin of the criminal element than this .