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District B13 – Review

You might have heard of this movie under a different name, Banlieue 13, maybe not but that should give you a clue its French its bold and its one of the best if not ‘the’ best, definitely the most exciting action movie of 2006. If you’ve heard of free running you’ve probably heard of the French name parkour, well this movie features one of the prominent stars of this fairly new urban sport which is a cross between running and jumping, using your athletic skills and prowess to move in a fluid and non traditional way across landscapes. District B13 uses this to the full its a movie that makes for really good viewing, the stunts are real, the jumps are amazing and the camera work shows them off.

In the movie the District is a wasteland that the rest of the country would rather forget about, its the land that civilisation forgot and now things are run by the gangs, of course this doesn’t suit everyone and some people don’t want drugs and war to be in their everyday life, enter the star of the movie David Belle? he has a run in with the local gangland boss, rivalry ensures, family member are involved. Add to the mix a government that has lost some of its belongings and a gung ho officer who doesn’t want to take the job but really has no choice. This leads to a host of action, fighting, kicking and jumping of the like you’ve possibly not seen before, all high octane stuff.

So to sum up District B13 is not high art, its not going to make you think much except maybe whether the stunts were real, but it will impress you with its skills, its pace and its kinetic energy, unlike anything you’ve seen on the big screen yet. If you don’t mind subtitles or slightly dodgy dubbing, and you like your action movies this is for you.