Stars Paul Walker, David Belle, RZA, Catalina Denis, Ayisha Issa, Grouchy Boy, Richard Zeman and Robert Maillet Directed by Camille Delamarre Essentially a remake of Banilieue 13 a.k.a B13 a.k.a District B13 from producer Luc Besson, utilising the same screenplay with some updates to accommodate the US setting. If you’ve seen the original, then the only reason to watch this would be to check out Paul Walker’s final film, or more precisely, the last film he completed before his untimely death. Being set in a crime ravaged section of Detroit, the sub-plot does bring to mind the original RoboCop, which makes the twist at the end not much of a twist since it was telegraphed way in advance. The plot is simple enough, but it’s meant to hang the action beats around it. Therein lies the pulse of the movie with Walker and B13 star, David Belle reprising his original role, running, jumping, leaping and occasionally duking it out to get to the self-proclaimed ‘mayor’ of the titular ghetto, Brick Mansions, played by RZA. Belle is in familiar territory, even if he’s struggling a little with the English. Rumour has it that Belle was dubbed by Vin Diesel, although it doesn’t sound like Diesel’s gravelly voice coming out on this side. Perhaps we got the original dub on this side of the world? While David Belle is regarded as the founder of Parkour, director Camille Delamarre (former editor for Besson’s EuropaCorp films and second unit director on The Transporter TV series) manages to stage the action beats well but doesn’t do enough to showcase Belle’s parkour skills, the highlight of the original movie and its sequel. Walker, too, seems to be in familiar action-movie territory, going through the motions with his usual enthusiasm and aplomb, especially in keeping up with Belle fairly admirably. There’s even a car chase scene. Performance-wise, he delivers although he’s not pushed to the limits as in his previous film, Hours (worth while to check out, if you haven’t). In any case, the rest of the cast do deliver as they should to accommodate the typical action film that we have here. There isn’t anything to elevate it into an exceptional action film while the plot itself is serviceable to keep it running over a cable/satellite movie channel for a long while without falling into that DTV category. If anything, it might get people to check out the little seen French originals. Delamarre follows the typical formula of the Besson EuropaCorp / Digital Factory films and is even lined up to direct the next Transporter film. A lot of flash and no style, though, or perhaps a style that’s yet to be defined or discovered. Rating: ** 1/2
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
December 2017
|