"Mesrine: Killer Instinct"

Having been blown away by the fantastic "Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1," the second installment in the biography of the real life French legend, I was thrilled to find its predecessor, "...Killer Instinct" still playing at a theater within driving distance. Maybe I was expecting too much, but I found this somewhat of a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, marvelous Vincent Cassell and the rest of the cast, including the always fabulous Gerald Depardieu, were perfect, but I cringed a lot as excessive blood was spattered all over the place. Mesrine, was, obviously, brilliant. He used his quick wits almost as much as his brute force. But when he unleashed the latter, watch out! The audience applauded at the showing I attended. Oh, and I finally noticed that the screen play was based on a book Mesrine himself had written. (I missed noting that credit for"...Public Enemy.") So, I'm going to offer a qualified THREE STARS. (Try to see these two films in correct sequence, if you can, and let me know!) SP