I know that I said earlier that I was going to try to stay away from the "meh" titles but this one was too perfect. Not just because of the name of the film but because the movie was basically the epitome of "meh". Well, I shouldn't say that. The direction and cinematography was very good but the story... well, there wasn't any. And the character... well, he was pretty much just an asshole. And kind of a stupid asshole at that. For such an amazing criminal, he didn't really come up with any interesting plans; it was always taking advantage of obvious weaknesses. Granted, that's how most criminals work but it doesn't make for a super interesting film when everything is so simplistic.

On top of that, the film seemed like it was on fast forward. There was no real development of anything. You'd just skip to another time in his life. Mesrine would go from single to married in a flash. There'd be two kids in one scene and then in the next, he'd say he has three. Crimes were brought up and carried out in a flash. He goes from underling to notorious criminal in the blink of an eye, it seems. There are some good scenes in there but I almost feel like this story needed to be told in an episodic TV fashion or longer mini-series because, right now, the trilogy has gotten off on a forgettable foot. (Well, besides Elena Anya (right) who has made me very interested in checking out Sex & Lucia now.)

The film wasn't bad but it definitely dragged and while Vincent Cassel did a nice job, there wasn't a lot for him to work with. The movie was just good enough (and the other movies out are all just bad enough) to keep me interested in part 2, which is supposedly better than this one. Right now, I wouldn't recommend seeing it in the theaters although maybe the second film could change that. I hope to be seeing it some time this week so we shall see.