Review of District B13 (2004) by Alexander W — 13 Jan 2009

I saw this about a month ago, but forgot to write anything. this movie sucks, the acting is terrible, the plot is ridiculous, the direction half-assed and really it's just a vanity piece for david belle.

Having said that, it has one of the most astounding actions sequences i've ever seen. david belle is one of the co-creators of parkour, an activity with the express aim of moving from one place to another as quickly as possible using the human body; essentially running, climing, jumping etc. in the film, there is a scene where belle's (unarmed) character must escape from an apartment complex which is filled with gun-toting goons intent on capturing him. his escape is filled with crazy jumps, dives, wall runs etc, and is genuinely one of the coolest scenes i've seen in films.

Having said that, the majority of the film blows, there are a couple of half-decent action scenes, including a 2v1 fight with the two protagonists vs an improbably strong fat man and a transporter-esque one man vs many armed goons fight, both of which were ok but ultimately fairly unoriginal.

My recommendation is watch the parkour scene on youtube for free, and do yourself a favour and watch something else.