{"id":2089,"date":"2012-03-26T20:06:17","date_gmt":"2012-03-27T02:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=2089"},"modified":"2012-03-26T20:06:17","modified_gmt":"2012-03-27T02:06:17","slug":"district-b-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=2089","title":{"rendered":"District B-13"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBefore putting on District B-13 you might want to start with a quick safety check: push back the coffee table and move the floor lamp away from the couch. You\u2019ll need room for thrashing. Next, turn the bass up on your subwoofer and crack a beer. Now get pumped for District B-13.
\nDistrict B-13 (2004) is one of several films that director Pierre Morel and screenwriter Luc Besson have so far collaborated on and is also probably their best. That\u2019s no small claim, considering their other films include The Transporter (2002), Taken (2008) and From Paris With Love (2010), to name a few. So if you liked the heavy-hitting panache of those three films, District B-13 is a definite must-see.<\/p>\n

In District B-13 Morel brings in martial artist, Cyril Raffaelli, and Parkour founder, David Belle, to help carryout his ass-kicking agenda, which is done with all the elegance of an MMA match on a trampoline. The film is set in the near future in a Paris ghetto, or banlieue, known as B-13. Though the city has allowed B-13 to fall to ruin, one local resident, Le\u00efto, who\u2019s played by Belle, decides to fight back against the drugs and gangs that are destroying his neighborhood. Not surprisingly, this puts Le\u00efto on the bad side of Taha, a notorious drug kingpin, played by Bibi Naceri. After Taha and his massive army of men are permitted to kidnap Le\u00efto\u2019s sister by the local police chief, Le\u00efto kills \u2013 ahem, decapitates \u2013 the police chief and is placed in prison.<\/p>\n

Six months later, Taha\u2019s men steal a neutron bomb, which is triggered and set to explode in 24 hours. Damien Tomaso, an undercover police agent played by Raffaelli, is put on the mission to deactivate the bomb. Knowing he\u2019ll never succeed alone, Damien is forced by his superiors to solicit help from Le\u00efto by breaking him out of prison under the guise that Damien is himself a prisoner. Of course, Le\u00efto\u2019s no fool, his street smarts see through Damien\u2019s act immediately, but they have a common goal to work towards \u2013 saving Paris. Serious, I mean serious, ass-whooping pursues.<\/p>\n

District B-13 isn\u2019t a good movie in the traditional sense. The characters are pretty two-dimensional and mostly stereotypes, anyway. And the plot is certainly clich\u00e9d. Furthermore, the blind stab District B-13 takes at making a political statement for its conclusion is so misguided and hypocritical that it\u2019s almost laughable. But never mind that. This is an action movie, son. When shit starts popping off you don\u2019t stop to think about plot and morality, you just run and jump. And when you do, just be glad you moved the coffee table.