Forget those cars hurtling like Molotov cocktails in the “X-Men: The Last Stand.”
In the French action import “District B13,” stuntman-turned-actor David Belle makes a fluid, jaw-dropping argument that the foot chase might be the next wave in action, and the body still can have the most special effect of all.
Belle plays Leïto, who, along with Paris cop Damien (Cyril Raffaelli), must find and disarm a bomb that has become the illicit property of a kingpin Taha.
Terse, taut and willing to pack on some philosophical weight, “District B13” wastes no time in shouting “Action!” In his directorial debut, cinematographer Pierre Morel plunges us into familiar outlaw violence. Bullets fly. Neck bones snap. A casino shootout has as many casualties as there are numbers on a roulette wheel.
The near future of the City of Lights isn’t looking very bright. It’s 2010, and razor-wired walls hem Paris’ suburban ghettos. Gangs rule the encampments. Cops pack up their files, leaving their forts to the natives. Parisian pols long since abandoned the citizens of these districts, of which B13 is the most brutal.
When K2 (Tony D’Amario) arrives at the only apartment complex not in advanced rot, Leïto, the tattooed steward of that project, is about to cut the heroin he stole from K2, his crew and boss Taha (Bibi Naceri).
Leïto’s theft leads to payback, with his spirited younger sister, Lola (Dany Verissimo), as Taha’s bargaining chip.
Back in Paris proper, Damien proves himself more than a one-man wrecking crew. He’s an honest cop who believes with charming if boneheaded naivete in his government. (When he speaks of “liberté, egalité, fraternité,” you wince even as you hope he’s right.) Against his better judgment, he goes undercover to brave B13.
As impressive as action choreographer and star Raffaelli’s own opening scene is, it’s Belle’s ripped, lithe presence and his character’s high-noon virtue that own the story.
Using “Parkour,” a form of movement Belle co-founded, he makes accomplices of walls and other unmovable obstacles. He’s Spidey without the wires and blue screens.
Producer and co-writer Luc Besson (“La Femme Nikita” “The Professional”) is no stranger to American-style action. And “District B13” has its share of the borrowed. The baddie’s comeuppance feels so-very Tony Montana, winking but indulgent. And the score relies heavily on rap music’s ever-growing reach to signal youth and brutal disaffection.
Before Leïto and Damien confront Taha, they share a tête-à-tête that easily could take place over the umpteenth cafe au lait in a sidewalk cafe. Like a similar scene in “Munich,” it’s an idea-laden break that bears the weight of the movie’s cultural insights. Yet, an action flick that body doubles as a cautionary tale about class and civic disregard is worth the ticket.
Much of the movie was shot in oppressive housing projects of Romania. Even so, the movie exudes the air of disaster hanging over Paris. Shot a year before that city’s suburbs were burning, “District B13” has a hard-to-ignore relevance.
“District B13” | *** RATING
R for strong violence, some drug content, and language|1 hour, 25 minutes|ACTION, LOTS OF IT|Directed by Pierre Morel; written by Luc Besson and Bibi Naceri; photography by Manuel Teran; starring Cyril Raffaelli, David Belle, Tony D’Amario, Bibi Naceri, Dany Verissimo. In French with English subtitles. |Opens today at the Mayan and AMC Westminster Promenade 24.
