At one item in Luc Besson ’s District 13 : Ultimatum , cop hero Damien intones gravely , “ The Constitution is my Bible . ” The political sympathies in this account of near - future tense jurist are dewy-eyed , like its pleasance – which include watching parkour badassery in Paris .
This flick is a sequel District 13 , also written by Besson , which is about what happens when the French government fence off a “ uncollectible ” neighborhood in Paris ala Escape from New York . Crime brandish in the unpoliced District 13 . Only parkour master and serious cop Damien – aided by fellow parkour badass Leito , who subsist in D-13 – can set up thing right . Most of the movie is consume up with watching these two hot , ultrafit guys bouncing and jumping from the Paris ghetto to some governing offices next to the Seine , deliver justice for the disenfranchised . It really looks great , especially unite with the drive , electro - worldbeat music .
Besson is the futurist - action writer / managing director behind movies like Subway , The Transporter , and The Fifth Element , and he know how to evoke frenetic urban natural action with a few deft stroke . We begin by watching Damien take out a massive drug - dealing operation single - handedly ; at the same time , Leito is blow up parts of the D-13 walls and fleeing law parkour - expressive style , which Damien at one point refers to as “ play Spiderman . ” And these guys are about to get into a lot more trouble , fast .
There ’s a cabal brewing in the Gallic governing . One M. Gassman , who heads a corporation not - so - subtly named Harriburton , is scheming to start a war between police and residents of D-13 so that rioting will get so bad that the district will have to be evacuated and bombed . Then he can move in with Harriburton and redevelop the area into apartment for the halfway class . ( “ Just like in Iraq , ” he says . Hmmm – what could he be getting at ? I ’m having a knockout time project out the equivocal political message here . ) To foment the warfare , Gassman have strong-armer from his paramilitary getup DISS to scoot some cops and make a video that makes it seem the D-13 gangs did it .
Meanwhile , a D-13 Kyd just happen to film the DISS guy rope shooting the cops . Now it ’s a raceway against fourth dimension to get that minor ’s newsbreak memory board card into the correct hands – and luckily he handed it off to Leito before the DISS Guy got him . unluckily , Gassman anticipated that good guy Damien might visualize out his programme , so he draw up him for drug self-possession . That think Leito has to parkour his way into the prison house , bust Damien out , and hope against Leslie Townes Hope that he can link the gangs of D-13 so that they can get enough badass parkour guys together to save their home .
In between all the gravely cool natural process scene , there are some amusing moments with the gangs where we determine their superpower . The Asian bunch leader can contend with knife amaze in her hair’s-breadth ; the white supremacist ring drawing card can kill by bankrupt his head into you ; the African head honcho is seriously elusive ; the Arab gang drawing card has get all the movement ; and the “ Mafia ethnicity ” bozo ( seriously – what ethnicity was he ? ) is good with guns . As they design to peril Gassman for the evil mastermind he is , you feel like you ’re find out the zoomy , fun , happy - end version of third world majority rule crusade . Which sound unearthly , but actually works somehow when you ’re seeing it on screenland .
This is a picture show that never take itself too gravely , except when it comes to legal action . Which is to say , it delivers on what it foretell and keeps you entertained the full time . If you ’re looking for an awesome action moving picture this weekend , District 13 : Ultimatum is it .
Luc BessonMoviesParkour
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