There can be little doubt that when it comes to martial arts movies you need to look abroad for your best work. Normally that means heading over to the Far East, Hong Kong especially, if you want to watch anything worthwhile. What it doesn�t normally mean is France, a country better known for surrendering than fighting. However, what France has that other countries do not is Parkour, a very new and very exciting way of life (as it�s not technically a martial art). Parkour, or free-running, involves using the environment to help, rather than hinder, your progress from point A to point B. Normally this involves utilizing jumps, vaults, climbs, swings or any other movement to remain as fluid as possible, and is simply amazing to watch.
In District 13�s dystopian near-future Parkour�s founder, David Belle, is cast as Le�to, a man struggling to remain decent and law-abiding in a place society has given up on and walled in. After a dispute with the local crime lord his sister is kidnapped and he arrested and jailed at the behest of a crooked police officer. Months pass and the French government loses an advanced nuclear missile in the very same banlieue, the task of retrieving it given to their star policeman Damien (Cyril Raffaelli). As he requires a guide an elaborate ruse is set in motion to place the two men together. Though Le�to sees right through Damien�s disguise the two men eventually team up and attempt to infiltrate the crime lord�s den and disarm the missile.
While I was looking forward to this movie quite a bit I was still unprepared for how good it could be. The martial arts sequences themselves, especially an early scene with Belle utilizing all of Parkour�s genius, and Raffaelli�s single-handed takedown of an entire casino full of bad guys, are beautifully filmed and action-packed, but the movie itself rarely requires an action scene to keep itself interesting. While the squalor of the future is hardly a new area the fact that it is set only six years in the future (as of the movie�s release in 2004) gives it a potency exacerbated by the recent riots in the banlieue�s of Paris and Marseille.
On top of this the casting is excellent, featuring no world-famous French stars. Belle�s inclusion gives the Parkour-theme credibility and Raffaelli is France�s premier martial artist. The surprising casting of ex-hardcore porn star Dany Verissimo as Le�to�s sister is rewarded by a very sexy, confident performance by her, while the late Tony d�Amario and Bibi Naciri (who bears a striking resemblance to Ewen Bremner) provide excellent evil foils to our heroes. All of this adds up to a very enjoyable 90 minutes and one I hope will be replicated soon enough with even more Parkour-related shenanigans. |
