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District 13 (*********9/10)
Year: 2004
Genre: Action, Crime
Country: France
Language: French, w/ English subtitles
Starring: Cyril Raffaelli, David Belle, Tony D’Amario, Bibi Naceri
Eye candy: Dany Verissimo
Director: Pierre Morel
Producer: Luc Besson
Run time: 81 minutes
DVD distributor: Alliance Films
Every now and then, a movie comes along that really changes the game in the action genre. Remember the first time you saw Ong-Bak? Wait…you didn’t see Ong-Bak? GO SEE IT. OK, here’s one you probably DID see – Casino Royale. Remember the first scene in that movie, where Daniel Craig chases that ludicrously nimble guy up and around the scaffolding, through the air and up the sides of walls and all that? That sequence would never have happened were it not for District 13.
This movie is decently acted, has a decent script and a decent concept. A tough guy from a project in the middle of the Paris of the future teams up with the one good cop on the force to take down some really bad guys and save some other slightly less bad guys. The whole ghetto (District B13) is walled off from the rest of the city, and is on full lockdown. A nuclear bomb has been stolen and placed in the middle of the district, set to go off in a few hours. Only Damien (Cyril Raffaelli) and Leito (David Belle) can save the day.
Sounds a little preposterous, doesn’t it? Well…yes. It is a little preposterous. But then, this movie is not awesome because of the story. Or because of the dialogue or the script or the acting. It’s the action, and only the action, that makes District 13 a revelation. Parkour, or “free-running”, is a French activity that is alternately referred to as either a sport or a martial art. In District 13 it doesn’t matter at all how you define it. It’s just really damn cool.
The idea behind parkour is that participants try to move around in an urban environment as efficiently as possible. They jump, climb, vault, roll, and leap over and around and under and through whatever obstacles might be in their path, attempting to continue moving forward in as straight a line as possible. This creates an incredible fluidity in the movie’s chase scenes that is, frankly, breathtaking.
Raffaelli is an experienced stuntman and martial artist, while Belle is the actual founder of parkour. They have a terrific chemistry together, but really the film is more about what they can do in tight spaces, how they can go up walls and swing around ropes and go from one balcony to the next without the slightest hesitation. No description I give can really do it justice. Just watch the scene I included on the video above. Then imagine a whole movie of THAT. And tell me it isn’t awesome.
District 13: Ultimatum (*********9/10)
Year: 2009
Genre: Action, Crime
Country: France
Language: French, w/ English subtitles
Starring: Cyril Raffaelli, David Belle, Philippe Torreton, Daniel Duval, Elodie Yung
Eye candy: Yung
Director: Patrick Alessandrin
Producer: Luc Besson
Run time: 100 minutes
DVD distributor: Alliance Films
Both District 13 and District 13: Ultimatum are already out on DVD. You may already have both. If not, though, you should most definitely pick up the double feature being released October 12th by Alliance Films. These are two of the most incredible, breathtaking, adrenaline-pumping action movies ever.
District 13, in the six years since its release, has deservedly become a cult classic. Ultimatum will likely get there too, very soon. It might actually be better than the first. It has more action, and less story. And as I said in my review of the first film, the story is pretty much irrelevant. It’s the action that matters – and more action is therefore better action. But both movies are great. So get them both.