|
Well, it had been a while since we'd had a movie "date" with our next-door neighbors. We all agreed that the trailer for District B-13 was pretty cool so on one of the rare days when no one was at work, we checked it out.
Don't be surprised if this movie isn't playing in your area. It was on one screen here, with only 2 showings a day. Given the fact that the theatre which played most of the foreign films has recently closed down, I fear that it may become harder and harder for me to get my martial arts movie fix. The Promise never even made it here, but that may be because it got pretty bad initial reviews.
Anyway, I digress. District B-13 is weird because it is French. Honestly, it is pretty strange to see gangsta guys with pimped-out cars, talking in French. Yes, this movie has been left in the original language with subtitles. Of course, the dialog isn't super-important, so if you can't keep up with the subtitles, you're not going to miss a lot. Just focus on the action and you'll be fine.
Why should you see District B-13? Well, it was advertised as being from the same people who did Ong-Bak. Not sure where the connection is, but you can see it in a similar love of showing action scenes from multiple angles. It's co-written by Luc Besson, who wrote The Transporter. It stars Cyril Raffaelli (who did stunts in both Transporter movies and was in Kiss of the Dragon, which while not one of Jet Li's best movies, is damn good brutal fun) and David Belle (co-inventor of a sport called Parkour, which basically involves running up and down buildings, jumping around, and being CRAZY). In short, it's pure Summer escapism.
If you're really worried about the plot, well, here it is in a nutshell: It's the year 2010 and the French government has walled off this bad neighborhood which is full of gangs and drug dealers. A bomb falls into the wrong hands inside that wall. Good-guy cop Damien (Raffaelli) must team up with roguish-but-good local Leito (Belle) to get the bomb out and save Leito's sister.
Really, the main reason to see this movie is to watch Belle doing his Parkour thing. The fights are good but not great (what can I say, I'm spoiled) and the story is full of plot holes. But it's just plain fun to watch this guy jump from rooftop to rooftop, swing on ropes, flip around, and move like a monkey.
I found both Raffaelli and Belle to have rather charming screen presences, but that may have had something to do with the fact that they both spend much of the movie either topless or in tight tank tops or tees. After seeing so many boobs in so many movies, it's nice to have some wiry martial artists to ogle.
I recommend catching this at a matinee, cheap theatre, or worst case scenario, DVD. I didn't find it fun enough that I would consider full, prime-time movie prices, but it was definitely an entertaining afternoon with my friends.
|