FilmNerd3

Escape from the City of Lights!

Posted by: Gaunt, September 11, 2005 04:25 PM

So there's this guy, who likes running places fast. Being French, that isn't nearly stylish enough, though, so he invents this sport where you run dangerous places REALLY fast, with grace and courage and above all, buckets of style.

And there's this other guy, who knows martial arts and skydiving and scuba diving and some more matial arts and acrobatics and some other things. He's a stuntman's stuntman. Also a good actor.

And there's this third guy, who's worked with the second guy a lot, and thinks the first guy is really awesome. Also, this third guy makes movies.

So they make this near-future sci-fi impossible but done without wires foot chase/martial arts cop/crook buddy picture. And it is stupendous.

There were some plot holes, but really, I couldn't give a damn right now. I'm still buzzing on adrenaline.

Je Suis Un Superball

Posted by: ThirteenDamnDollars, September 10, 2005 01:12 PM

Pierre Morel
Friday September 9th, 11:59PM
Ryerson Theater

It's Paris, in the N.T.D. future, and the government has simply given up on the poorest districts and solved the problem by walling them off with massive concrete barriers and restricting access in and out.

Inside District 13, Leito dispenses vigilante justice by stealing and destroying drug shipments and keeping grafitti off his apartment building. When crimelord Taha seeks revenge by kidnapping Leito's sister, Leito turns the tables but is ultimately betrayed and jailed by a police force indifferent to the problems of the poor.

Now, it seems Taha has accidentally stolen a neutron bomb and accidentally primed it to go off in 24 hours, and undercover super cop Damien is paired with Leito to rescue the sister and save Dsitrict 13.

There's an old joke: "Scientists are trying to develop the neutron bomb" "What's that?" "It's a weapon that kills all the people but leaves the buildings and houses intact" "Oh, we already have that, it's called a mortgage". That's baiscally the theme of Banlieue 13, that economics and government indifference kill people as dead as bombs.

Of course all this plot and social commentary is really just box that this movie comes in. What's in the box? Hella french kung-fu fighting action stunts! Leito is played by David "Le Pakour" Belle. Damien is played by Cyril Raffaelli, martial arts stuntman extrordinare. So the foot chase scenes are insane and the fights are great.

Two Scoops Of Flow!

Posted by: Task, September 10, 2005 04:18 AM

Friday, September 09 11:59 PM RYERSON

Imagine that the guy who made Wasabi was in love with Escape From New York and decided to make his own Ong-Bak featuring his two favourite people: Stuntman/Actor Cyril Raffaelli (from Kiss Of The Dragon) and extreme sport inventor David Belle playing more-or-less themselves... Pierre Morel (of Transporter fame) has made exactly that movie, and while he's constantly giving you what you want, he's never quite serving up exactly what you'd expect. It's got more style and grace than any other four movies put together, it's French science-fiction, full of great all-real action, and it's set in the walled-off compound of Banlieue 13. If that doesn't do it for you, I don't know what does.
Slight spoilers follow...

The two main characters are introduced to you with special segments just for them, and they're fantastic. And then they put the two of them together and surprisingly the action slackens and the plot thickens. I mentioned the thing where you get what you want but not the way you expect, right?
Overall, it's a brilliantly crafted movie and I eagerly await the anticipated sequel.
The only part about the movie that wasn't completely fulfilling was the ending with the girl. 6 months of slavery in a drug lord den and she recovers completely within a month or so? The whole movie is based on "no wires, no CGI, all real" and they were going strong up until that final bit. It's a small thing, and I'm easily willing to forgive it, especially since they really glossed the whole ending, but it does stick out from an otherwise perfect movie.