District B13

District B13 is a French action film. Its characters are wooden and poorly developed beyond their archetype. The plot has been recycled from Hollywood. And since it has been recycled it is fairly ridiculous and non-sensical. Oh and just one more thing. It is the most entertaining film I have seen all summer.

The ghettos of Paris have gotten so bad that the government constructed walls around them to contain crime. This essentially makes them large lawless prisons. The film starts following Leito, a man who grew up in District B13 and despite the crime considers it home. He attempts to put an end to a local drug lord but the cops balk and he ends up going to prison instead of the bad guys.

Enter Damien, a by the book, tough as nails, 'I work alone' cop. Damien busts a crime lord and is called in by his higher ups for a special mission. A clean A-Bomb has been stolen and is now residing somewhere in District B13. They need him to recruit Leito and get to and disarm the bomb.

Now with some variation I realized quickly that this was a rehash of John Carpenter's Escape from New York. But that movie worked as an escapist fantasy with a badass hero played by Kurt Russell. And this movie works too. In fact thanks to amazing stunts and martial arts, it might work better.

The movie starts strong with an action sequence of Leito escaping from the bad guys. The fighting is fun and fast, but the best part of it is that the camera stays still! Hollywood directors have gotten into the habit of whipping the camera around so fast you don't know what is going on. It might make it feel more like a fight but it makes it boring to watch.

Because the actors are stunt men and martial artists, everything they do looks and is real. No highly stylized tree running like you see in Ang Lee inspired features. The dragging exposition doesn't last too long and you forget it when the action picks up again.

In the realm of watching films everyonce in a while it is nice to watch a guy kick ass and take names. This was the appeal of Jean Claude Van Damme movies and Steven Segal. I laughed and cringed and oohed and aahed at the things I saw in this movie. It was fantastic.

Yes this movie is light on the development of characters and plot but it makes up for it in action sequences. The scene with Damien in a casino at the beginning of the movie along is worth the price of admission.