District B13 (2004)

Very Cool!!!

How sad is this?

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I paid attention at this movie checking all the directed films of Philip Morel. He directed the first part of Taken - 96 Hours that got a great success at the box offices worldwide.The reviews here are right saying that the action scenes are well executed and worth seeing.In fact I saw last time these combat and chase scenes in a James Bond movie. The story is easy to follow and the running time of 82 minutes is perfect.If you like thriller of gangster / crime / action this is for you. I highly recommend you to see also the trilogy Taken with Liam Neeson.7/10 for solid popcorn entertainment.

With a poll coming up on IMDbs Classic Film board for the best titles of 2004,I was happily caught by surprise,when a very kind fellow IMDber sent me a DVD of a great-looking French Action movie,which led to me getting ready to enter District 13.The plot:Seeing crime go out of control,the French government in 2010 decide to build a wall to separate the most crime-ridden ghettos from the rest of France.2013 (How futuristic!):Finding that all of his heroin supply has been destroyed by Leïto,leading gangster Taha Bemamud decides to get his revenge by kidnapping Leïto's sister Lola.Discovering that his sister has been taken, Leïto fights to get her back,but his stopped in his tracks by a group of corrupt police officers,who put Leïto in jail.6 Months later:Learning that Bemamud's gang has gotten hold of a nuclear bomb which is set to go off in 24 hours,the French government decide to send Capt. Damien Tomaso over the wall so that he can defuse the bomb.With Tomaso knowing nothing about what is behind the wall, Leïto is freed from prison,so that he can become Tomaso's guide.Getting behind the wall,Tomaso and Leïto soon discover that a hidden threat is being prepared.View on the film:Kicking things off with an explosive title sequence,director Pierre Morel and Manuel Teran give the film a blazing stylised appearance ,with Morel & Teran using rapid-fire tracking shots to show the destructive battleground of the ghettos,as the superb electronic score from Bastide Donny/ Da Octopuss and Damien Roques packs a real punch with the snappy action scenes.Whilst the stunts,(all performed with no CGI or wires) are impressive,Morel never allows them to be given the breathing space to display their full impact,due to the lightning fast editing not allowing for the viewer to fully soak up the breath- taking stunt work.Entering the district with a firm mind-set of what is right and wrong, Cyril Raffaelli gives a very good performance as Capt. Damien Tomaso,with Raffaelli showing Tomaso's straight-edge law & order ideas get chipped away,as Tomaso finds out what the government's plan for the district are.Joining Raffaelli, David Belle gives a gritty,extremely energetic performance as street-smart Leïto,whilst co-writer (along with Luc Besson) Bibi Naceri lights up the screen as cackling baddie Taha Bemamud,and Tony D'Amario gives an excellent,animated performance as Bemamud's henchmen K2,as everyone fights for survival in the crime ridden ghetto of District 13.

I reviewed the sequel to this, Banlieue 13 - Ultimatum (2009) (a.k.a. District 13 – Ultimatum), back in June 2010 (you can find that review here: film-review-district-13-ultimatum-2009). Funnily enough, this film is very similar, with just as much action as in the sequel. But more of that later, here's a very brief summary first (summary haters please wait outside the walls of District 13 while I write the next paragraph).The French government have walled off a section of Paris to contain lawless elements within. A vigilante who lives there, Leïto, is in a dispute with a drug lord, Taha, when Taha kidnaps his sister. Taking revenge, Leïto captures Taha and takes him to the police, only for the corrupt cops to release Taha and lock up Leïto. Some time later, a straight-up cop, Tomaso, is tasked with retrieving a bomb that has been stolen in District 13. He takes Leïto to help him, on the promise that they will also rescue his sister. The bomb will explode in just a few hours and Leïto has a plan. I won't say any more, don't want to give too much away.This is a very well made film that has some great fight sequences and some brilliant free-running segments also. Performances were also pretty good, although it's quite hard to judge with an action film in a foreign language. But honourable mentions must go to; Cyril Raffaelli as Capt. Damien Tomaso, David Belle as Leïto, Tony D'Amario as K2, Bibi Naceri as Taha Bemamud and Dany Verissimo as Lola.Like the sequel, I found the plot a little simplistic, although there were some nice little twists in this one that were missing from the second. As I said, the fight sequences and free-running were excellent; I just felt there could have been a little more of them. The film did get a little too bogged down in dialogue from time to time which, I felt, didn't help the flow of the action. Having said that, it's still worth seeing for the action sequences, and so, recommended.My score: 6.8/10

I have become a Luc Besson fan, two of my favorite movies are "Nikita" and "The Professional." While he did not direct this one, and was only the co-writer, it really looks and feels like a Luc Besson film. The two leads reminded me of a young Al Pacino and a slender Vin Diesel. Sometimes it isn't clear who the "bad guys" really are, but as in other Besson films, the good guys ultimately prevail. But there are many surprises along the way. Much of the "chase scene" action involves a technique called 'Parkour', where the person being chased uses whatever is already at his disposal to climb buildings and walls, or jump to rooftops. The person credited with inventing this technique is David Bell, and he has one of the two lead roles. He is the one who looks like a young Pacino. Both he and the other actor have a long careers also as stunt men, so all the action is real, and they are doing it.Cyril Raffaelli is Capt. Damien Tomaso of the Paris police force, with a reputation for being the best. He usually spends weeks, maybe even months, planning and executing, perhaps even establishing an elaborate false identity, to get close to the crooks to nab them.David Belle is Leïto, who grew up in an area called District B13, a housing project that has gotten so bad and out of hand with the criminal element, the city has built a wall around it with razor wire on top and heavily armed guards at the entrance. In a way it reminded me of how Manhattan Island had become in the movie "Escape From New York." There are a number of interesting things going on in the movie, but the big one involves a "clean bomb" that has been hijacked and ended up in District B13. Tomaso is given the quick assignment to sneak into the district and after locating the bomb, would put in a code to defuse it, to keep from killing 2Million people, but he has less than 24 hours. He ends up needing Leïto, and also in a move perhaps inspired by "Escape From New York", he is broken out of jail and told his sister is being held there, but for his help he can become a free man. A curiosity is little-know actress Dany Verissimo who plays Lola, the sister of Leïto. About the time this movie was being filmed, she was also breaking into the video industry as a porn star. She actually is a good choice for the role here. French with English subtitles, a very entertaining movie, watched it on streaming Netflix.SPOILERS: When the two men got into District B13, and when they tracked down the bomb, they called for the deactivation code. But they were deceived, it was in reality the 'activation' code, and Leïto was the one to realize it. The two men fought, Tomaso to get to the code keypad, Leïto to keep him away. At time 'zero' it did not explode. It turned out the police chief was trying to kill all those in District B13 because he had run out of ways to deal with the area and he was willing to sacrifice the two men in doing it, and many other innocents. But the men captured what amounted to his confession on video, with audio.Note: The 2014 movie "Brick Mansions" set in Detroit and starring Paul Walker was released a few months after Walker's death.