Yamakasi : Les Samouraïs des temps modernes

The YAMAKASI are a bunch of kids who practise what is variously known as Parkour and Free Running, a sort of sport/art/philosophy involving the development of skills for the traversal of urban environments in interesting ways (http://www.parkour.com/).

YAMAKASI the film is a Luc Besson production that basically provides a vehicle for 7 of these kids to show their stuff, in the pretence of helping a young kid who needs a heart transplant. It actually feels rather like a kids film, with larger than life characters (a bit of a keystone cops thing going on) and a message about being a bit rebellious but in a good way, or something.

The group are real life practitioners of Parkour, not professional actors - which kind of shows, though not in a particularly bad way - they're not wooden, but don't exactly express deep or complicated emotions.

Given that the film is basically a vehicle for Parkour, it's somewhat disappointing that not all that much of it is shown. There's some building scaling which is impressive but not particularly cinematic, then a bunch of antics where very little "free running" is shown - there are just a couple of scenes which show the potential the film could have had, towards the end. That potential has recently been realised much more dramatically in the film BANLIEUE 13, where one of the founders of Parkour is teamed up with martial artist Cyril Raffaelli for some truly original and sometimes incredible action sequences which show how Parkour could really be the foundation of a whole new action style. It's a shame that YAMAKASI, for whatever reason, didn't seem to know what to do with it. I'm hoping that the semi-sequel LES FILS DU VENT will put the group's talents to better use.

I honestly don't understand why so many people complain about this movie. It doesn't take itself that seriously, so why should you?

A few examples you ask? To the people who have been b*tching in earlier comments, and to those who agree, here goes:

• Wrong message/example? What the f*ck about Robin Hood? That story is regarded classic and rightly so, modern times - modern solutions...

• Weak story/plot? True, true, but that is not what this movie is about. It's lighthearted and humorous. Look at it that way.

• Threatening people with guns? Please, have you even watched the movie? They use a gun, which they obtained from someone who was shooting them, once and they're not aiming at a person.

I don't even wanna elaborate on everything else. Why not? I enjoyed the movie because of the fast pace, good soundtrack and the seemingly (try it yourself and find out!) easy stunts. Add the fact that only one of the seven main characters (Yann Hnautre) has ever played in more than one movie, they're not doing a bad job.

If you're looking for a fun way to spend 90 minutes, go see it, if you only expect to pay for good movies (hint: read some of the other comments for this movie), go and see it anyway. If you wanna nitpick about everything that does or doesn't occur in a movie, see it and go b*tch about it.

Statement andrew Jakobs,Holland:

"Well the ending really sucked. It didn't leave me with good feeling, Hmmm cop pointing gun at the doctor (who only drew the gun because he was being threathed by the gang, And I think he was in his right),"

I offer a quite different opinion:

The doctor was a arrogant,self-centred imbecile(high class), who had no regard for other peoples life than his own kind. He deserved to be reminded that all life is sacred regardless of race & class. And the cop quit his job in protest of a system that represses the weak in society. So the ending gave us a piece of moral justice, which sometimes is better than what the law can offer.

All in all the movie is good entertainment,nothing more or less.......

Yamakasi is a refreshing change from Hollywood style films. It's not Besson's masterpiece, the story is not THAT original, but the music, the cool "action" and the fresh style makes it a worthwhile experience.

The story itself is about 7 modern samurai, "yamakasi", that try to help a dying boy by stealing money from rich people in order to buy a donor-heart.

The action, although there isn't as much in it as the trailer would led you to believe, mostly consists of the yamakasi running away, climbing buildings, doing crazy jumps, and other stunts involving pedestrians.

Rating: 7/10

I saw this movie in Hong Kong in October 2001 DUBBED by a famous (the only one in Hong Kong???) local Cantonese hip-hop collective called LMF (Lazy Muthaf*ckas) in Cantonese and I have never laughed so hard in my life. It was a brilliant move on the part of the distributers to wide-release it with an entirely redone script and was extremely popular for weeks. There were brilliant rhyme sequences on the part of the ensemble that could only be replicated in Cantonese. They also had a dubbed Mandarin version out in theatres but I don't think it could've measured up at all. My friend and I were curious to see how it was in French, and it sounds like it was really crap. Occasionally French films get wide release in Hong Kong, like The Crimson Rivers (Les rivières pourpres), but it's very badly dubbed in English and people are quite used to seeing subtitles at the bottom of the screen as it is. The dubbing for Yamakasi made a so-so movie into one of the must-sees that year, definitely the best comedy I saw all year.