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District B13 (2006)

District B13
You can smell the B.O. right through the monitor.

Directed By:

Pierre Morel

Starring:

Cyril Raffaelli
David Belle
Tony D'Amario
Bibi Nacer
Dany Verissimo
François Chattot
Nicolas Woirion
Patrick Olivier

Released By:

Magnolia Pictures

Released In:

2006

Rated:

R

Reviewed By:

Paul Heath

Reviewed On:

Sun Aug 20th, 2006

Grade:

B+

zBoneman on Rotten Tomatoes

Playing at my local multiplex at the moment is Superman Returns, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Garfield 2, Over the Hedge and Stormbreaker. Those along with a French movie called Disrict B13. The aforementioned films play eight to ten times a day, every hour. District B13 is limited to just one screening a day, at 9.30pm. Why am I telling you all of this? Well, I've seen all of those flicks, bar Garfield and Stormbreaker, but out of those that I have seen, District B13 is easily the best.

Set in the near future, actually 2010, in a neighborhood of Paris, the film follows Leïto, a down on his luck kid who is trying to bring local gang warlord and controller of all, Taha to his knees. When things go a little 'tits up', Taha takes it upon himself to kidnap Leito's kid sister, and generally treat her like a slave (which includes keeping her on a leash, and feeding her drugs). Leito is betrayed and sent down for lashing out at the local police station (which is closing that very same day) and we fast forward six months to meet Damien, a hard arsed police officer who has just solved a huge case involving underground gambling. Having booted the big boss of that organization into the local nick, Damien is immediately given a new mission, to locate a bomb that has gone astray in District B13 before it goes off in less than 24 hours time. To help him, Damien grabs local kid Leito from inside to show him the walled borough and the two have to work together to get to the bomb, and indeed Leito's sister in time.

This film could have been a big advertisement for new 'sport' Parkour, which is described on Wikipedia as being 'a physical discipline of French origin in which participants attempt to pass obstacles in the fastest and most direct manner possible, using skills such as jumping, vaulting and climbing, or the more specific parkour moves.' There's an awful lot of this in the movie, and the movie indeed stars the cofounder of the discipline, David Belle in the lead role. These scenes are the best in the movie, and the action is delivered thick and fast - in fact the movie rarely lets up. It's action all the way from the super-cool opening frames through the 85 minutes to the kick ass climax. Sure, the script is flawed, the story very vague, and the acting a little ropey, but don't pay attention to all that. Just enjoy the high octane fun and games up there on the screen. I encourage you to find a better action movie in theaters this year.

First time helmer Pierre Morel (this guy has been cinematographer on films like Unleashed and The Transporter) wows us from the opening frame and producer/ co-writer Luc Besson's traits seep through, and there are even nods to films like Escape from New York and even Scarface contained within.

I had a great Saturday night at the movies with District B13, as did the other five to six people in the theater no doubt. I'm just a little disappointed, as this film will go largely unnoticed here, and with big movies like 'Su[erman' and 'Pirates' playing at the same time (all of which were packed to the rafters this evening), it's little surprise. All I will say is do not be put off by the subtitles, or the fact that you haven't seen this heavily advertised on billboards, on TV or indeed in featured trailers at the cinema, you simply have to see it. I guarantee, it does not disappoint.

High octane testosterone powered popcorn fun. What more could you ask for?

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