Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: District 13/Banlieue 13/B13 (2004)

11/19/2013

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

♥♥

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?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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11/19/2013

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

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