District 13/Banlieue 13/B13 (2004) - Parkour action in Paris

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A futuristic, composited image with gun-wielding characters makes up this poster for Pierre Morel's District 13

In the near future of 2010, the worst Paris ghetto, district 13, is walled in. A ruthless gangster boss and a 'regular Joe' now come at odds, and a ticking neutron bomb in the district will also have to be handled!

 

District 13 is written by co-writer/producer Luc Besson (Taxi 5 (2018)) and Bibi Naceri (The Code/La Mentale (2002)) and directed by debuting Pierre Morel (The Transporter (2002, cinematographer)).
Conceived after real-life troubles in the lesser Paris suburbs with hundreds of car burnings etcetera, the new thing in Morel's surface-level topical action movie is parkour: The metropolis is run and jumped through dexterously by the athletic leads, while bullets and enemies fly around right and left. It is these acrobatic action aspects of the film which may attract: The (impressively) practically achieved fight and parkour choreography and the film's cinematography by Manuel Teran (Zorro (1990-1991)), which is accomplished with equal measures cartoonish brutality and elegance.
Unfortunately, the cartoonish atmosphere also hangs over the rest of the film. - The plot is a banal idea, and the characters are extremely forgettable. The script is severely lacking. The editing also seems rushed and leave the impression of a half-way cooked action cake.
A sidenote: District 13 has certain homoerotic aspects, in lieu of any heterosexual romance, which is a bit sweet, although it remains strictly platonic.

 

Watch a 1-minute clip from the film here

Cost: 13 mil. €, approximately 14.1 mil. $
Box office: 11.5 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.81 times its cost)

[District 13 was released 10 November (France) and runs 86 minutes. Shooting took place in Romania, including in Bucharest, and in France. The parkour scenes were reportedly largely done without wires or CGI. The film opened #16 to a 410k $ first weekend in 151 theaters in North America, where it diminished from there, grossing 1.2 mil. $ (10.4 % of the total gross). France was the film's biggest market with 6.9 mil. $ (60 %). South Korea was the 2nd biggest with also 1.2 mil. $ (10.4 %) and North America was the 3rd biggest. Besson and the stars returned with sequel District 13: Ultimatum/D13-U (2009) by another director, and District 13 was remade as Brick Mansions (2014) with Paul Walker. Morel returned with Taken (2008). Cyril Raffaelli (Human Zoo (2009)) returned in Live Free or Die Hard (2007); David Belle (Ultimate Code (2021)) in Un Monde Meilleur (2005, short) and theatrically in Babylon A.D. (2008). District 13 is certified fresh at 80 % with a 6.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of District 13?