Banlieue 13 /District B13 (2004)

This is a high paced action film from France that contains some of the most awesome stunt work I have ever seen in a movie. The actors practice a form of urban gymnastics called 'parkour' or 'free running'. "Parkour is an urban discipline and as a traceur (people practicing this discipline) you focus on moving from point a to point b as fast, smoothly and efficiently as possible. You are using the abilities of your body to surpass any obstacle in your surrounding whereby you are given complete freedom – physically and mentally." (Wiki) Check out this sequence from the movie and you will get the drift.



The story begins with gangsters coming after a honest young guy named Lieto who has stolen a million dollars worth of drugs from them and is attempting to flush it all down the tub. He is interrupted and has to flee using his parkour skills to avoid capture. To draw him back in, the gang kidnaps his cute and spunky sister Lola who Lieto immediately rescues. Taking her and the leader of the gang to the corrupt cops is a stupid move because he is locked up, the drug dealer gets set free with his dope and the sister.


Six months later we meet Damien, the last honest cop in the district who is in charge of an operation to bring down another of the local gangsters. Of course things don't go as planned and the young cop has to fight his way out of a bad situation. After more terrific stunt work Damien learns that the original gangster,the one who has Lieto's sister has a neutron bomb which he plans to detonate in the district. You can see where this is heading. Cop and convict team up to stop the gangster, save the sister and diffuse the bomb.

We are not here for the story, however. The real appeal of this film comes from the two leads who are terrific athletes. You see some of the most amazing jumps, runs across the tops of buildings, runs across wires, swinging around poles, crashing through windows and flying over speeding cars than you have ever seen. All the while the leads are fighting 10, 20, or 30 guys with machine guns. If this was a Hollywood action movie the cuts and edits would be done so quickly that they would bleed all the action and thrills out of the scenes. (that's a dig at YOU, Michael Bay) Here the camera lingers long enough for you to see how high the buildings are and how far they have to jump to get from one rooftop to another. The blooper reel alone, with all the stunt moves that JUST missed, would make you hurt just to watch.


Basically this is one loud, noisy, Tex Avery cartoon brought to life and that was okay with me. Raises the bar for action stunt work and shows us something fresh. I know that is what has been missing lately from my jaded eyes and brain.