Movie 110: District 13 – Ultimatum

This is a sequel, if you haven’t seen the original it’s about a walled off section of Paris that’s gone to shit, Escape From New York style. A cop and a criminal team up to stop some really bad criminals setting off a neutron bomb. It was the first film to feature parkour, and it’s awesome.

At the end of the first one the government promises to remove the walls around the district. They don’t do it. So Leito (David Belle) periodically blows bits off them. However, the war lords in charge of the district don’t want him to as they feel protected and like the status quo. But some corrupt cops frame a gang for killing some other cops and shit kicks off. They want to destroy the district so it can be rebuilt for yuppies. Supercop Tomaso (Cyril Raffaelli) is framed for drug possession to get him out of the way. Tomaso calls Leito to bust him out so they can get evidence and save the day!

I actually had trouble condensing the plot there and I’ve missed stuff. Bit surprising for an action movie!

When you think of French cinema what do you think? Poets eating cheese with hairy women and a duck with jazz in the background? Me, I think kick ass action films. Because they really can make some damned fine action, generally with the name Luc Besson attached somewhere.

This is a bit like a good 70’s Jackie Chan movie, but Jackie Chan is a French guy called Cyril Raffaelli. And Jackie has a cousin, say Jimmy Chan, who is a French guy called David Belle and isn’t as good at Kung Fu but he jumps around fantastically.

This is honestly one of the best action movies I’ve seen in a while. It’s cleverly plotted, well acted (including the warlords) and has some damned fine set pieces. Tomaso’s re-introduction scene in particular is worth the price of admission alone.

While David Belle may be the founder of Parkour, Cyril may be the better practitioner for film. And he’s trained in two martial arts. Why he doesn’t have a bunch of films under his belt I don’t know, but start throwing this guy in to crazy action please! Not that Dave sucks or anything…

Awesome!

Next up: Annie Hall