I first came across Parkour, or Free Running as it’s also been called, in the British TV documentary Jump London in 2003. It was an amazing film, charting the history of the sport/art as well as showing it in action around some London landmarks, and I remember thinking that it would work well in a film. The highly successful French producer/director/writer Luc Besson had the same idea two years before me when he came up with Yamakasi (2001). He only provided the basic idea for that film, but in 2004, he returned to the sport, this time coming up with District B13.
The French seem to have a thing for loose remakes of John Carpenter films; Florent Emilio Siri made The Nest (2002) that had much in common with Assault on Precinct 13, and District B13 is a French take on Carpenter’s Escape from New York. What sets these films apart from Hollywood-style remakes is that they only take the basic idea and use it as a springboard to create a new and exciting story.
The year is 2010 and the French government has walled in the most crime-infested areas of the major cities. The worst of these is B13, though it’s not without its decent citizens, and one such is Leito, a man doing his best to clean up the streets he lives in. Sadly, the local police aren’t looking to do the same and it’s Leito who finds himself in prison.
Jumping forward six months, we find undercover cop Damien Tomasa completing an assignment. It’s soon clear that even unarmed he’s a man who’s more than capable of taking care of himself, giving a display of martial arts that even Jet Li would be proud of. With barely time to clean up, he’s called to his superiors’ office. There’s a stolen "clean" nuclear bomb in B13 and someone’s started the timer. Tomasa’s mission is to deactivate the bomb and he’s paired with someone who knows his way around the district… Leito. Leito wants back in to save his sister; the local crime lord who just happens to be the man with the nuke is holding her.
The movie moves at a breakneck pace with barely a moment for even the audience to draw breath let alone the protagonists. Everything about it is fast: the fights, the editing, even the dialogue is delivered at a gallop so you’ll need to be a speed reader to keep up with the subtitles. Given his first chance to direct after working on a couple of Luc Besson produced action movies (Transporter II and Unleashed), Pierre Morel clearly wants to show what he can do, and on the evidence here, he can do a lot. The fight scenes flow nicely. I’m not usually a fan of the rapid, music video-style editing of fights, it makes them seem less authentic, but here it works, adding to the urgency of the situation. Even the use of slow motion is spot on, letting you experience the bone-crunching impacts and some breathtaking stunts in all their violent glory. He also does a good job of capturing the energy of Parkour when Leito is running around and jumping off rooftops to evade the bad guys.
Article comments
1 - empath
Hah! Geez, I am such an idiot. It never occured to me that this movie was a remake of Escape From New York. Thanks for pointing that out, since I knew there was something familiar about the plot.
2 - Ian Woolstencroft
You’re welcome empath.
It’s not that surprising you didn’t spot it as, where remakes are concerned, we get used to tired retreads of the original (Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, etc) so when something comes along that’s a new take on an old idea it’s not so obvious.