District B13 (2004)

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb. Banlieue 13 will offer you an 1 hour and 24 minutes of action and a lot of parkour and David Belle did an amazing job with all those stunts the film was directed by Pierre Morel (Taken) and it was written by Luc Besson (Leon) so i just gave you 2 reasons why this is a must watch Foreign film it has some pretty cool action sequences and a lot of cool stunts it also has one sequel and an American remake starring Paul Walker and David Belle alongside RZA it's not as good as this film was but it's still pretty watchable for a remake to be honest.

This film tells the story of a man who has to seek revenge and save his sister from a criminal mastermind in an area that no police dares to enter. He gets help from a policeman who is given a mission to disable a bomb inside the same area."District 13" is a high adrenaline film. There's no time for fluffing around, the film gets right into mind boggling action. This is maintained throughout the film, as there exists no scene to introduce the setting, pace the rapid storyline or just giving viewers a chance to rest in general. The only pity is that I watched "Brick Mansions" first before watching this, and "Brick Mansions" is an almost identical remake.

I am not normally one to watch a film where I have to read subtitles the whole way through but I still decided to give this one a go after hearing about the free-running type action in the film. It didn't disappoint.The subtitles were easy to follow and the action just kept me glued to the screen from start to finish. The story is good and develops at a good pace.Cyril Raffaelli and David Belle deserve huge credit for the way they performed in this film, the stunts were all real and just looked incredible. The fight scenes were just brilliant, it was a complete thrill ride. If you want good over the top action this is for you! It was only an hour and 15 minutes or so and it was over in what felt like 20 minutes, that's how fast and good the action was. Would recommend this film to anyone wanting to see some great action and fighting scenes. Looking forward to watching the sequel now.8/10.

Produced by Luc Besson (one of the coolest directors of all time), directed by Pierre Morel (who went on to make "Taken" and "From Paris With Love"), and starring David Belle (the guy who founded the urban sport of parkour, where people run and move in fancy ways to overcome obstacles), "District B13" is all about style and action, and it's pretty damn cool that way. Action is quite frequent in this film; it showcases some really impressive fights and some really spectacular foot-chases. It comes close to besting "Ong Bak" in terms of quality choreography and jaw-dropping stunts. Oh yeah, it's that good. With tight pacing, a trim runtime, and some really stylish photography and special effects, this film definitely entertains.The story for this is serviceable; nothing really deep, inspiring, or even original (it actually bears one or two things in common with "Escape From New York"). However, it does have a few fine and dandy twists, and it's pretty easy to follow and relate to the characters; I actually grew to like the cast by the time the credits rolled. Towards the end, a type of "fight the power" message emerged, which might be seen as a little pushy, dumb, or one-sided; I personally thought it was something of a redeeming factor.With quality, stylish photography and editing effects, the film looks really cool, especially in the way it captures the action and the seedy ghetto settings. Acting and writing are generally not bad; they get the job done. David Belle seemed to show a lot of angst, at least in the first half, but definitely showed excellent physical prowess. Cyril Raffaelli provided a decent counter-performance opposite Belle. Everybody else is alright. This production has some really trashy-looking settings and locales, which is appropriate, but it also boasts some nice-looking cars and it does okay with the costumes and props. Special effects are used sparingly, and aren't too bad either. Music is really cool.As you may surmise, this is not a great film, but it has great action and spectacle. I was plenty happy with the story, even if it isn't the greatest, and I was pleased with the film's style and quality, even if it isn't groundbreaking in any specific way. It's probably one of the coolest flicks that I've seen, French or otherwise, and chances are that if you enjoy action, impressive stuntwork, and stylish cinema like I do, then this film should be right up your alley.4/5 (Entertainment: Very Good | Story: Average | Film: Pretty Good)