District B-13 / Banlieue 13
Parisian suburbs in 2010 have gotten so out of control, they’ve been walled off, and District B-13 is the worst of the bunch. A nuclear bomb is stolen and taken to the district and it’s up to Capt. Damien Tomaso (Cyril Raffaelli) to get it back. Helping him out is the do-gooder Leito (David Belle) who’s in jail for trying to do the right thing but runs into a corrupt cop. Oh, and his sister Lola (Dany Verissimo) is being held by the über bad guy, Taha (Bibi Naceri who is also the screenwriter).
One word of warning if you view this film. Watch it in the original French with subtitles. Whatever you do, do not watch the dubbed version. I repeat: DO NOT watch the dubbed version. Damien is voiced by some cockney git and Leito suddenly becomes Irish. Add to that dialog that requires you to groan out loud (when you can understand it at all), and it would take away three stars.
But the film is really very good. Mostly, because it’s the first time I’ve been able to see David Belle in action outside of some short You Tube clips (including one scene from the movie, if it’s still there and his famous BBC commercial). David Belle is the originator of Parkour (or, Free Running) and it’s awesome to watch. The clip I’m most familiar with is the Russian kid. For the parkour and the fight choreography alone, this is worth watching. The story is kind of weak but it’s the dialog that really needs work. A lot of work. But in spite of all that it’s a good movie. Great music really keeps the excitement up with some of the best chase scenes in any move anywhere. Lots of quick jump cutting, but not int he MTV nauseating style, this works.
Get it. Watch it. Watch it twice. But not the dubbed version.
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:21 am
Hells yeah.
I never thought of watching the dubbed version.
January 22nd, 2007 at 9:00 am
It’s weird. The DVD defaults to English language/No subtitles, so I had to stop and change it the first time through. I didn’t bother changing it the second time, and it was quite bad.
The only trouble I had with the subtitles is I can’t read as fast as they talk so I had to back the thing up once in a while.
January 22nd, 2007 at 9:18 am
Does it? I guess I didn’t notice because the first thing I do before watching any movie is to check the sound setup. Don’t wanna miss any DTS soundtracks, you know.
At least you get the option. I’m still sore that my copy of Drunken Master 2 (Legend of the Drunken Master) only has the English dub. Lame.
January 22nd, 2007 at 9:32 am
I have my DVD set up to just start playing as soon as the disk is inserted. I got tired of 15 minute “don’t steal this movie” promos that you can’t interrupt or FF through (or the worst one ever, James Bond Die Another Day which has, like, four levels of animated menus you have to negotiate before you can even get to the “Play” button). So if the default settings aren’t right, I have to stop it to change it, but at least I don’t have to sit through the MPAA rants.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:07 pm
That’s one way to deal with it, I guess. I opt to just get angry and curse the screen.
Sounds like the “Lost” DVDs Laura and I have been watching lately. The menus slowly fade out and then back in, so trying to get to the episode list takes far longer than it really should.