Movie: District B13

District B13/Banlieue 13 (2004)

Directed By: Pierre Morel

Written By: Luc Besson and Bibi Naceri

Starring: David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli

District B13 is one of the most fun viewing experiences I have ever had. This movie is a stuntman driven thrill ride. (Wow, you'd think I was getting paid to give lines like that.) The only real downside for this movie is the fact that it is a stuntman driven thrill ride. The dialogue is a little strange in spots (whether this is due to the writers or the French to English translation team is a point for someone else to analyse), the story is completely fucking ludicrous and our main actor, David Belle, is about as emotive as a wooden statue. This is definitely a guilty pleasure movie. However, if you go into it knowing this, you are guaranteed a good time.

The feature starts with a text scroll letting us know the basic info that sets up the movie: the year is 2010, we are in Paris, and the French government has discovered a new way to stop crime: giant walls topped with razor wire. I will be the first to tell you that I know almost nothing about France, but something tells me that when the movie was made in 2004, the country probably wasn't 6 years out from sectioning off it's most dangerous areas. I'm also not really sure how you build a wall like that and have everyone inside that district not go running off through an unfinished area. Oh well, this is an area we are supposed to be just accepting as fact so that we can get on with the action. At it's heart this is a tale of teamwork and overcoming social stereotypes, it just happens to be told through the ass-kicking team of Leito and Damien.

The first member of our duo is Leito(David Belle). He is the owner of a project in the annexed Paris area known as B13. He seems to be a fairly good guy, considering his surroundings, as we find him emptying out several large packets of heroin into his bath tub in an effort to dispose of them. Things go from tranquil to insane in a matter of minutes when the original owners of the drugs show up to reclaim them. The bad guys, enforcers for a local crime lord, make short work of Leito's gang. Leito then proceeds to lead the baddies on a whirlwind tour of his building, inside and out, through the stunning use of parkour.

As a side note here, David Belle basically invented parkour, an urban sport-like activity that involves getting from one point to another in the most efficient and fluid way possible. Parkour will seem familiar if you have seen any of the following movies: The Transporter series, Casino Royale, The Incredible Hulk, or the video games Mirror's Edge and Assassin's Creed.

Being unable to reclaim the dope or Leito, the bad guys head back to their boss, Taha (co-writer Bibi Naceri). Not pleased with this, Taha sends them out to kidnap Leito's sister, Lola, which he feels will illicit a reaction. Almost immediately, Leito arrives and breaks his sister out of there, while simultaneously capturing Taha and another stash of drugs. Leito then proceeds to the nearest Police outpost in B13 in order to turn Taha in for his crimes only to be told that the Police are moving out of B13 and that Taha is free to go. Fearing an all out gang war on their front steps, the Commanding Officer instead locks up Leito and allows Taha to kidnap Lola again. Leito, very pissed at this turn of events, kills the lead officer before the scene ends.

We pick up 6 months later with a scene involving a different gang that runs an underground gambling establishment. This scene is a little hard to follow at first due to the odd dialogue and the ridiculous looking boss this crime family has. We quickly establish that the family has been infiltrated by an undercover cop and that the building has been surrounded by a SWAT team. Enter Undercover Super Cop, Captain Damien Tomaso. Sent in to apprehend the crime boss Carlos Montoya, Damien, after revealing himself to be a cop, quickly busts a large number of heads in a short amount of time in a scene very reminiscent of one in Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior.

Immediately after completing this particular assignment, he is assigned a new mission that will be taking him into the heart of B13. It seems that an armored car, carrying a new "clean" bomb, just happened to be traveling past B13 and was hijacked and taken through the border crossing, finding itself in Taha's capitalistic hands. Unfortunately, the bomb has been activated and only 24 hours remain until the nuke goes off and wipes out B13. Damien has been chosen to go into B13 to retrieve the bomb and save the day, only this time he'll need a partner. His superiors decide to partner him up with convicted cop killer Leito, who will be acting as his guide. The only issue seems to be that they didn't really mention any of this to Leito, which leads to a lot of trust issues. Without ruining the rest of the story, a lot of asses are kicked and we are treated to a lot more insanely fun parkour action.

Bottom line is, Luc Besson has only further cemented himself as one of the best action movie makers of the last decade with this one. Now with several classics like La Femme Nikita and Leon(The Professional) and newer, higher budget extravaganzas like The Transporter movies and Jet Li's Kiss of the Dragon, I can only see things getting better from Besson.

All in all: 8.5 out of 10

Definitely worth watching if you like insane stunts and kick-ass action, or if you are looking for a flick that will allow you to retain your manhood while confidently stating "Why yes, I do watch foreign films."