Return to District 13 Full of Martial Arts Madness
It’s been two years since hard-boiled Parisian cop Damien Tomasso (Cyril Raffaelli) and inner city vigilante Leito (David Belle) teamed up to bring justice to lawless District 13 streets. In that time things have hardly improved, the walled-off districts inside France’s capital becoming a haven for lawlessness and violence far beyond anything the pair ever could have imagined.
Cyril Raffaelli and David Belle in Magnet Releasing's District 13: Ultimatum
But things get even worse when a group of corrupt officials conspire with some wealthy developers to send District 13 into utter chaos so they can convince the President (Philippe Torreton) to ground it down into rumble and then rebuild. It’s up to Damien and Leito to uncover the truth and to save the day, and even with the entire city’s police force mistakenly believing they’re the bad guys that’s exactly what these two heroes are going to do.
Anyone who watched and enjoyed the parkour martial arts spectacular District B-13 will not be surprised by the fact its sequel District 13: Ultimatum is short on plot and long on eye-popping action. This movie doesn’t even try to make sense, returning writer Luc Besson (whose From Paris with Love also opens today) and newcomer director Patrick Alessandrin apparently not caring less about that fact. The whole thing is nothing more than visual candy, and while that doesn’t make the finished product all that filling once consumed going down I have to admit the darn thing is really quite tasty.
I do have to admit unlike the first film this one actually does not get better as it goes along. The best action sequence comes right at the very beginning, a cross-dressing Tomasso taking on a whole restaurant of baddies while protecting a valuable Van Gogh masterpiece. It’s so good I actually almost leapt to my feet and cheered at one point, the filmmakers actually showing me stunts and fisticuffs I can honestly say I’ve never seen before.
Not that this is the movie’s only outstanding set piece. With Raffaelli and Belle doing all their own stunts how could it be? There’s stuff that the pair do that’s beyond impressive, an escape from a police headquarters such a giddy action moment I couldn’t help but smile. Alessandrin stages everything in a way that showcases his stars to perfection, Jean-François Hensgens’s cinematography never hiding the kinetically dynamic action choreography keeping the best of it continually front and center.
Sadly things do run out of steam this time around in a way that’s a tiny bit disappointing. Besson’s script is just an excuse for action, action and more action, but when the whole thing ultimately turns into a weird combination of Escape from New York and The Magnificent Seven mixed with a tiny dash of The Wild Bunch the fun admittedly starts to ebb. I was decidedly under whelmed by the climax, even the parkour and martial arts feeling a bit second rate compared to everything that had already come before.
Still, mainly because I was in the right frame of mind there was enough meat on the bones of District 13: Ultimatum that I was still able to forgive quite a few of its numerous shortcomings. I came out of it smiling from ear to ear, and even though I knew I wanted more what I did get kept me just entertained enough I didn’t feel pummeled by the blasé nature of the climax. For what it is the darn thing ends up being a lot of fun, and if the filmmakers decided to return to this Parisian district again I certainly wouldn’t complain.
Film Rating: êê1/2 (out of 4)
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