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Movies & TV

District 13 Ultimatum

DISTRICT 13 ULTIMATUM (Alliance, 2009) D: Patrick Alessandrin, w/ Cyril Raffaelli, David Belle. Rating: NNN DVD package: NNN Rating: NNN


Some sequels try to hard to top the original and end up as bloated self-parodies (Crank 2 comes to mind), but not District 13 Ultimatum, which brings back the same mix of hard action and in-your-face attitude that made 2004’s District 13 so much fun.

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It’s the near future, three years after the events of the first movie, and high-level government types have launched a nefarious scheme to obliterate District 13, the walled-off Paris ghetto filled with the heavily armed underclass. Time for supercop Damien (Cyril Raffaelli) and civic-minded outlaw Leïto (David Belle) to once again team up and kick ass.

Raffaelli and Belle do their own stunts. They’re old school: bodies in motion, with little CG or wirework. Look for Raffaelli’s creative use of a Van Gogh painting in the first of his extended martial arts battles. Belle is a an expert at parkour, the art of adapting one’s movement to the environment with efficiency and speed. It gives him moves that rival Jackie Chan’s in his prime.

Raffaelli and Belle aren’t actors and don’t try, but their energy and focus make them believable and highly watchable.

Stunts take pride of place in the making-of doc, and you’ll find more action in the deleted scenes.

EXTRAS Making-of doc, deleted and extended scenes. Widescreen. English, French audio and subtitles.

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