District 13 (DVD)

...chock full of rip-roaring excitement. District 13 changes nothing at all, the formula is exactly the same, after all why change anything when it is doing so well.

District 13 is the ghetto of Paris, it is so reviled and hated by the majority of the city that they have built a massive wall around the whole district, and have police checkpoints on the only exits from there. Hidden away from the rest of the city the District has become ...
...not only acknowledge the troublesome district but come up with some plan to save the city. They send in their best officer, the one man they know is capable of stopping the potential disaster. To help him get around the district and find his way to the ganglord they get him a guide, a former resident of the district and now languishing in prison for killing a police officer in District 13 six months earlier.

District 13 is pretty much ... more

Luc Besson, director of such classics as Leon, Nikita & Subway, has, of late, been concentrating on writing and producing out and out action films. Taxi, Taxi 2, Transporter 1 & 2 and Jet Li's Kiss of The Dragon all coming from his pen and producing skills in the last 5 years or so.
All these films have a few things in common, they are short on overall plot but high on action, unbelievable stunts and are always chock full of rip-roaring excitement. District 13 changes nothing at all, the formula is exactly the same, after all why change anything when it is doing so well.

District 13 is the ghetto of Paris, it is so reviled and hated by the majority of the city that they have built a massive wall around the whole district, and have police checkpoints on the only exits from there. Hidden away from the rest of the city the District has become more than a ghetto, it is a lawless, no go area, run by gangs of criminals at war with each other.

When one of the major ganglords gets hold of a new 'clean' bomb by stealing it from a military shipment and targets it at the centre of Paris the authorities have to not only acknowledge the troublesome district but come up with some plan to save the city. They send in their best officer, the one man they know is capable of stopping the potential disaster. To help him get around the district and find his way to the ganglord they get him a guide, a former resident of the district and now languishing in prison for killing a police officer in District 13 six months earlier.

District 13 is pretty much a reworking of John Carpenter's classic Escape From New York. The setting is slightly in the future (2010) in walled off area full of criminals just like Escape, in fact the whole basis of the plot is the same really. Unusually though this doesn't matter as much as it would do normally, mainly cos of the inclusion of some raw martial arts style fighting and some jaw dropping, astounding Le Parkour/Free Running acrobatics. The Le Parkour is the main selling point of the film and is probably the main reason the film, French with subtitles, actually made it to some multiplexes over here!

Le Parkour for those who don't know what it is is a sport/movement originated by the star David Belle that involves travelling from one point to another by the shortest route possible, whether that means going over walls, up buildings, across roofs etc. Also known as extreme jumping it is best known in the UK from the BBC advert (starring Belle) where a man leaps across the roofs of London to get to his TV.

The knowledge that this was going to be the first film to include Le Parkour as part of it was my main reason for wanting to see it. I love the originality of it and it seems to me to be a natural progression for it to end up in a movie.
The whole opening scene just shows this, it is an eye popping, mind blowing chase through an apartment building, across roof tops, over walls etc is like nothing I've ever seen in a movie before, its visual audaciousness takes your breath away. David Belle, playing Lieto, is a European Jackie Chan!
This is also true of the opening, introductory sequence for the cop, Damien (Cyril Raffaelli, stuntman for many Besson films, one of the twins in Kiss of The Dragon). While not as good as the Le Parkour of Belle Raffaelli's martial arts skills are impressive and his fighting style is fast paced, visually striking and rather violent!

There is little characterisation, it is an action film after all, and neither Belle nor Raffaelli can act that well but the pair's skills dominate the film and their respective talents at their specialised subjects are more than enough to make you see it. It fair rattles along to its conclusion, barely leaving you enough breath to think about the sparseness of the actual story, or that it is a complete rip off.

District 13 is certainly a great film, well made and superbly edited. Directing is not too fancy but neither is it bog standard boring. Everything to do with the making of this film is spot on perfect, it may not be a classic but it will be one I will watch again and again when it comes out on DVD! If you like a good all out action film and don't mind subtitles then this is a must see. If you have seen and lover the Jason Statham films then this is something that you just have to add to your rental list. If you like or are interested in Le Parkour/Free Running then you just have to see this!

Finally there is a very weird subtitle of a line in the film that is curiously anachronistic. At one stage Damien says something to Lieto which is translated as 'like the swells you diss'. While I get the gist of what he is saying it is a very odd translation. I would love to know what the actual French he said was!
 

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