Search
What's Hot
Day-by-Day Fall Schedule
Celebs With Their Pets
Idol Winner Speaks!
Jim Parsons Comes Out

District B13

2004, Movie, R, 85 mins

District B13: Review

DISTRICT B13 | BANLIEU 13
starstarstarstar
Imagine, if you will, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981) crossed with every mismatched-buddy movie ever made, set in one of the high-tension French banlieues, built around an emerging martial art form called parkour and set to a crunchy techno soundtrack. Written by Luc Besson and directed by Pierre Morel (THE TRANSPORTER), the combination sounds ridiculous and plays like a jolt of pure, trashy adrenaline straight to the heart. In the not-too-distant future, the high-rise suburbs where much of France's urban immigrant population is concentrated have been walled off, and the hardworking poor left to the tender mercies of heavily armed gangs. Law-abiding do-gooder Leito (David Belle), a heavily tattooed devotee of parkour who grew up in Banlieue 13 and can navigate rooftops and building facades like Spider-man, intercepts a huge heroin shipment belonging to drug lord Taha (cowriter Bibi Naceri). Taha's thugs come to get it back, but it's already gone down the drain, so they kidnap Leito's sister, Lola (Dany Verissimo), to force him to make good. Leito rescues her and hauls Taha to the local police station, whose spineless commander arrests Leito and returns Lola to Taha. Some months later, elite police officer Damien Tomasso (Cyril Raffaelli), a human dynamo with muscles in places other people don't even have places, has just single-handedly busted up a whole gang in an illicit casino hidden beneath a drab corner deli when Defense Secretary Kruger (Francois Chattot) gives him a special assignment: Damien must break Leito out of a prison transport and persuade him to help retrieve an experimental WMD — a "clean bomb" that kills people but spares buildings — that was hijacked and taken into Banlieue 13. The clock is ticking, and Taha has the missile pointed right at central Paris. Damien is all about orders, Leito only wants to rescue Lola, whom the increasingly cocaine-addled Taha has been keeping on a leash by his bedside. Commencez les coups de pieds au cul! Both Raffaelli and parkour pioneer Belle are stuntmen, and if they're not the world's most expressive actors, they're good enough to handle the lulls between action sequences, though the strain shows when Raffaelli is required to deliver a high-minded speech about liberte, fraternite et egalite. Until then it's a high-voltage kick that's never lets up, energized by sheer bravura stunt work. Yes, it was overcranked and then slowed down, but what you're seeing isn't wire work or CGI — it's stunt choreography, beautifully executed, flawlessly cut together and brainlessly thrilling. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
Are You Watching?
District B13
Loading ...
Advertisement

Our Partners

Advertisement

Related Websites

You might be also interested in the following websites:

Most Popular TV Shows

  1. American Idol
  2. NCIS
  3. Big Bang Theory
  4. Voice
  5. Person of Interest
more popular tv shows

Most Popular Celebrities

  1. Jessica Simpson
  2. Khloe Kardashian
  3. Kate Middleton
  4. Maria Menounos
  5. Kim Kardashian
more popular celebrities

Most Popular Movies

  1. Avengers
  2. Battleship
  3. The Dictator
  4. Dark Shadows
  5. What To Expect When You're Expecting
more popular movies

Top Videos

  1. Revenge
  2. The Big Bang Theory
  3. Modern Family
  4. Young and the Restless
  5. Gaiam Wellness
more top videos