SDMS score: 75 points
"Public Enemy No. 2" gave me the biggest feeling that it was done in one go, which is exactly what the first film lacked.
In fact, the inherent advantage of this film lies in the linearization of Jacques Merlin's personal experience. Unlike many other characters, he is infinitely entangled with his own living environment. Jacques Merlin was not trapped by the family, nor by the woman, nor by the partner. So although we watched a biographical movie, "Public Enemy Number One" is closer to a road movie in rhythm. Countless women appeared and left, and Merlin's bloody partner also changed one by one.
This sequel is also better than the previous one. In the first episode, the appearance of the characters is a task-based step-by-step process, but in the sequel, the director arranges a rigorous internal logic for each character's appearance-Jacques Merlin's self-awareness anatomy. When a reporter from Jing Bao appeared, Jacques first talked about his criminal spirit: "I live in a society of exploiters, but I did not exploit anyone." This view was carried out by the creators as the film progressed. Round after round of relentless flogging. And these are achieved with the continuous emergence of new characters.
Jacques Merlin kidnapped a billionaire. He said to the latter: "You are an exploiter, and I am a revolutionary." The latter ridiculed Merlin's criminal philosophy: "Jacques, do you know the difference between a revolutionist and a bandit? Revolutionaries will Killed me immediately, and the bandit waited for the ransom and then let me go.” The film gave a clear answer here: Jacques Merlin was just a criminal, and he didn't have any sacred aura. One of his partners made a very vivid metaphor for him-you are a spinning top, you can't stop, and you don't know what you are doing.
The appearance of Charlie, Jacques Merlin's last partner, further enriched Merlin's personal character. Merlin lost his temper for his girlfriend's disrespect to Charlie, and his girlfriend reprimanded him: "Too self-righteous, I will die alone." These words touched Merlin's pain. He didn't have any long-term relationship, including women, including the previous one. The bloody partner finally left him slowly. The reporter who spread rumors about Merlin's perfidy in order to make news gave the film an appropriate cut to expose the narcissistic complex of Jacques Merlin showing off his criminal spirit.
The only thing I don't like about the whole movie is the ending. A very simple ending, Jacques Merlin was killed. The director had to deal with it so irritatingly. He did this: he used a lot of character positions and coordinated with the tense actions of the surveillance personnel to create an atmosphere, and the whole process of the assassination did not have much logic with the running of some police officers. The ground was cut together and dragged a one- or two-minute scene to nearly ten minutes. It feels like I want to make it a classic, but it is really limited in aura, there is no such flavor as the last revenge of "The Godfather" or the last police and bandit confrontation in "The Wire".
If I were the director, I would abide by the jumping rhythm of this movie, and there would be a clean death at the end. Jacques Merlin's life was originally full of this suddenness, there is really no need to forget the style of the whole movie in order to pursue certain effects.
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