In France, during the sixties, one man was making a name for himself, for all the wrong reasons. Jacques Mesrine was a bank robber who almost became more notorious for his audacious prison break-outs as he was for his robberies. By the time the seventies came along, he was dubbed public enemy number one.

Jean-François Richet, who directed the 2005 remake of Assault on Precinct 13, has gone on to create an epic two-parter about the most infamous criminal in modern day France.

Part one begins with a young Mesrine (Vincent Cassel) serving his country in Algeria. By the time of the early sixties however, he has returned home and looking for work. Despite his father finding him a job, Mesrine’s social circle is made up of small-time crooks, and it’s not long before he’s hooked by the seedy glamour and easy money.

Honestly, all these Euro bills look the same to me. Next time I want to be paid my weight in caviar.

He becomes part of a gang lead by boss Guido (Gerard Depardieu), who takes him into his criminal fold. Mesrine takes to the whole criminal way of life like a crook to a hold up; so much so that he and his partner were so cocky that they would walk out of one bank they just robbed, only to rob another across the road.

And despite killing numerous policemen during his daring raids, he began to have a reputation as being a thief with honour – although in truth it appears to be a reputation he liked to perpetuate himself.

He also had a reputation for not only getting caught, but for being able to break out of even the most secure of prisons. And indeed, in both these films he seems to be the Harry Houdini of prisons.

The second instalment concentrates on Mesrine the ‘public enemy number one’ figure. He’s now older, wiser and even more self-assured. He manages to escape from prison yet again, along with fellow prisoner François (Mathieu Amalric), with whom he subsequently teams up with for a few jobs. However, h is notoriety has reached such a level that one of France’s top policemen Commissioner Broussard (Oliver Gourment) concentrates all his efforts to bring Mesrine down, one way or another.

As with most films split into two halves, they demand a certain level of commitment from their audience. At least when you’re at home, it’s on your own terms. Thankfully though, Richet’s double act is far from being a chore to watch.

To begin with it stars the acting power house that is Cassel. Whatever role he chooses to play, you can guarantee he’ll never be dull to watch, and his Mesrine is no exception. Probably due to the sheer length of the story, Cassel ably sinks his teeth into the role, gripping it wildly like a crazed Rottweiler. He inflates Mesrine’s personality to almost air balloon-like proportions. Not only that, due to the film’s near 4-hour length, he goes through more facial looks than a monsieur Potato Head.

And although Cassel has no problem holding centre stage throughout, he gets some remarkable support. In the first part, there is the legend that is Gerard Depardieu; undoubtedly one of the greatest French actors that ever lived, he gives a very subtle performance here, almost to the point that he’s prepared to underplay his role, so as not to take anything away from Cassel. You’d expect nothing less from such a pro.

In the second part, Cassel shares screen time with Mathieu Amalric; an actor who doesn’t seem that far off from joining French thespian royalty such as Depardieu and Cassel. If anyone will be a true contender to the acting throne, it will be him.

Occasionally the story feels a little unbelievable: can one man escape prison so many times? Really? The answer is, well, yes he did. Proving that truth can be stranger than fiction.

Considering that there’s an awful lot of film to Mesrine, Richet does a swell job in the pacing stakes; there are no noticeable lulls during either part, which is some feat. Time and again he manages to create tension during many of the action sequences.

A special mention should also go out to those involved in the sets and costume departments, who have nailed all periods of time that the film covers. There are some nice, funky musical homages to classic crime films thrown in for good measure too.

Mesrine is a cracking film, from beginning to end. Cassel throws everything he’s got into the role and it shows. Gangster films have lost their way a bit in recent years, but this one impresses with a bang.