District 13: Ultimatum (2010)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Please don't spend money on this.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

I saw District B13 randomly in the movies when it first came out with my friend with no pretense only knowing it was an European action flick. I was impressed with it. It was the first time I had seen par kor and it was just electrifying especially mixed with intense martial arts. The action in the first film was incredible and walked a very fine line of camp but since it was performed so superiorly it was hard not to be an awe. And the team up of the two sexy and extremely talented leads was just jaw dropping to say the least and it had a decent storyline as well.I don't know why I didn't rush to see the sequel but watching it today I wish I had because it was an awesome friggin movie. And a really solid sequel. When it begins with one crazy action sequence after the next you kind of feel like wow this is awesome but there really doesn't seem to be a point. But as the film moves along it really adds to the first film and in keeping with the original characters and actors that made the first go around such a success they have made something really awesome. If there was a weakness in the first film it would have been the main girl who was quite annoying but they have remedied that in the sequel introducing a truly kick ass action heroine with a blade in her pony tail. I wouldn't say the sequel was better than the original that film felt a lot bigger and although this one follows a more intimate trail it really speaks to the franchises ever evolving storyline and with the announcement of a third film hitting theaters in 2014 gives me something to look forward too in action cinema. 4/5

Plot: When a corrupt cop and a villainous real-estate developer plan to destroy District 13 by manufacturing a false atrocity then an honest cop and a Robin Hood like criminal have to combine forces, again.The problems with this film are twofold. The first problem is that this sequel is in every way inferior to its predecessor. An excess of plot leaves the two heroes squeezed out, the climax fight/mission is a damp squib, the music is a bad re-tread of the excellent soundtrack of the original, the editing/camera are both far less slick and satisfying, the villains are too bland and the lack of Leito's sister leaves this without an emotional core. There are fun moments, like Damien dressed as a Chinese tranny or a superb parkour sequence when Leito escapes his flat, but there are far too many stupid scenes, like a tiny Chinese cyberpunk prostitute gangster armed with a blade in her pony tail fighting police, or stupid ideas, like Damien's ridiculous tea-cosy hat, or flat moments, like the boring exposition scene between Leito and Damien in an air vent. In particular the plot is too convoluted, in an attempt to disguise that it is basically the same plot as the first film, which leads to the film forsaking the parkour chases and brilliantly realised ghettoes for the tedium of central Paris and bog-standard kung-fu in the third act.The other big problem is the political schizophrenia. The film starts off quite explicit about the results of open borders, globalisation and mass immigration by depicting tribalised, racially exclusive gangs with their own ghettoes. The five gangs are all stereotypes: East Asians (computer nerds), Africans (primitive, tribal), Muslims (fanatical), Skinheads (neo-Nazi) and Gypsy (thieving). The camera lingers on the proletarian squalor, the brutalism of the concrete ghettos and the foreignness of these ghettoised cultures. Yet at the same time it ends with the gangs coming together into one broad multi-cultural alliance (Skinheads and Muslims? Really?) to shame the evil white capitalist French elites and show how they are more French than the French. The conclusion, when the President promises a new district, with parks and jobs, seems like an absurdity. So we get the bourgeoisie leering at the horror of the underclass whilst feeling sorry for them and excusing them as victims. The film can't decide if it wants to be a right-wing fantasy where the criminals get their just deserts at the hands of fascist police or whether it wants to be a left-wing fantasy where the immigrant criminals prove superior to the indigenous population.

I enjoyed this sequel a decent amount, I'll get that out of the way, but like the 1st it relies on its crazy action sequences and cool characters to get it over the hill. I enjoy a good action movie, but I feel a story is essential to any type of movie, and the action genre is certainly no exception. These movies rely on crazy stunts and thrilling action sequences, and while they certainly deliver on that part, I really found the story to be superficial and rather mediocre. Cyril Raffaelli|Tomaso| and David Belle|Leito| are charismatic and fantastic as ever together, but they can't make the movie anything more than above average. Raffaelli has one incredible fight scene at the start of the movie, that really blew me away with how crazy it was, and some of his stunts were spectacular. These movies are rather brainless and are great on a popcorn level, but the stories definitely leave a lot to be desired.Bottom line. It's entertaining for the action, I certainly don't regret watching it, but these things need a better story to fully succeed. Still worth a viewing for action junkies.6 1/2 /10

You'll hear it here first, since nobody else bothered to highlight this to the man on the street. District 13 - Ultimatum suffers from what the dubbing disease, and it's not just the Hong Kong films that aren't given the respect they deserve, to have its language tracked dubbed over by another language. For some inexplicable reason, we got the poor English dubbed version of the film, which means that the mouths don't sync with the words being spoken.It's irritating to say the least, because it's in-your-face distracting. Worse, the voices of the dubbers lack enthusiasm, and everyone sounds like everyone else (no budget to get one dubber for each actor?) droning on and on that you'll likely find the insipid plot dabbling with corruption from government forces and private enterprises a tad of a turn off, if not for the nicely designed action sequences to redeem some of the contrived acting and storyline in the film. Yes some may argue that a film like this should be focused on the action and not what's said, but the overall experience is nonetheless irrevocably marred.Picking off directly where we last left off with Captain Damien Tomaso (Cyril Raffaelli), Leito (David Belle) and Leito's sister Lola (being forgotten in this sequel) parted ways to jog your memory on who the top dogs are, the opening few minutes brings us up to speed where Damien and Leito are in their lives. We get a special effects laden camera-work zooming in and out of a digitized city during the opening credits, before ample time's taken to show Leito still being the pain in the behind for the police with his District 13 antics, while Damien continues in building up his reputation as the go-to man for police stings, having single- handedly (ok, with fists and kicks) bring down an entire vice operations.Which provides for plenty of action in the film as Damien fights his way out of a trapped club, and probably one of the longest action sequences with hard-hitting action involving the playful maneuver of a Van Gogh piece. Fans of Parkour though will have to wait a little longer for David Belle's Leito to strut his stuff, and the co-founder of Parkour doesn't fail to impress, especially with his one man escape from the cops atop rooftops, which warrant this particular segment a second watch as it's likely to serve as inspiration to all Parkour practitioners.Other than that the plot forces our dynamic duo to cooperate once more as they take on corrupt internal security who has been stringing the French President along with their naughty plan of creating havoc between the cops and the denizens of District 13, now with five different ethnic groups trying to fill a power vacuum created from the previous film, and Luc Besson tries hard to make it something of a political thriller as well, which director Patrick Alessandrin tended to shelve aside and include only as a necessary filler in between action sequences, which get larger and louder, only for the climax to falter with too many cooks spoiling the broth. To be honest i wasn't that impressed with the first film other than to witness Parkour in action, and this film continues with that impression. As I mentioned, the damage was done with the lines that were spoken, and I'd imagine whether it was Besson's responsibility for some of the corniest lines ever uttered in cinema, or was that the result of not treating the source material with respect, and hiring all the wrong guys from translating to delivering that ultimately proved to be the real letdown. If given a chance I'll watch this again, with the proper language track thank you very much.