User reviews

This exciting flick contains nail-biting action , thrills , spectacular scenes and plot twists . Thrilling and violent movie with a phenomenal starring pair and in which Cyril Raffaelli and David Belle cast all the Stuntmen themselves . Set in the rundown ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and an ex-thug try to infiltrate into a police precinct and Palace of President in order to save their barrios when some enemies are bent on destroying the five tower blocks at the heart of District 13 with tactical precision bombing . Once upon again Damien (Cyril Raffaelli) and Leito (David Belle , the originator of Le Parkour) are reunited upon to avoid a bombing on destroying the blocks at the heart of District 13 and save the city . They have to confront a nasty Police Chief from the Department of Internal State Security (DISS), and even Le Président De la République (Philippe Torreton) . With acrobatic skillfulness and adrenaline pumping belief in their own abilities, they throw themselves out from incredible heights, and jump from roof to roof ; locked doors and 'No Trespassing' signs become irresistible challenges . They face off their enemies in order to avoid the total destruction their district as Damien and Leïto convince the five gang lords to band together to prevent it when the president authorizing the strike .

¨13th District : ultimatum ¨ is an amazing film that packs suspense , thrills, noisy action , shootouts and violent fights . The main couple is unabashed in its dedication to fanboy stunt work . From the beginning to the final the noisy action and fast movement is unstopped , including breathtaking scenes in which bounds and leaps through apartments blocks and at moments give the impression that they are flying . Cyril Raffaelli as a hard-rock , two-fisted agent is top-notch . This is a frantic rehash of ¨Escape from NY¨ , rightly realized in French style . The highlights of the movie are The Parkour , also known in USA as Free Running whose origin was in ¨Yamasaki¨ film directed by Ariel Zeitoun , Julien Seri and also produced by Luc Besson with his production company called ¨EuropaCorps¨ . Duo protagonist more than make up for in an skill to soar across a rolling medley highrise flats blocks . The way in which the actors prove this abilities , is in fact an activity called Parkour and was invented by David Belle himself , influenced by his father Raymond Belle . Cyril Raffaelli also choreographed all the fight sequences ; however David Belle didn't practice all his Parkour stunts , most of the ones that you see in the film were of him performing the stunt for the first time .Cyril Raffaelli and David Belle had three months to prepare all their Parkour stunts for the film . There weren't any special effects , wire-work, computer graphics... used in 90% of the Parkour scenes .The film was at the subject of a controversy when writer/producer Luc Besson accused cinema chain UGC in the French media of boycotting the film by not showing it in their Parisian suburbs cinemas, and thus trying to stop its intended audience from seeing it. UGC replied that they felt their distribution for the film was up to par and that in any case it wasn't Besson's business to decide which cinemas should or should not carry the film. Good and atmospheric cinematography using Steadicam and zooms with numerous locations from Paris slums ; however set in Paris, some of the film was shot in Serbia. The musician Da Octopuss creates a stirring, moving soundtrack fitting to frantic action . Lavishly produced by the successful French producer and director Luc Besson . The flick was stunningly realized by Patrick Alessandrin though Alexandre Aja and Pierre Morel (who took a break from filming ¨From Paris with love¨ to come visit the set in Paris) were originally hired to direct the movie the first . Filmmaker Alessandrin gives the action a dance-like quality and the whole movie lasted 14 weeks for production , idea, script, casting, filming, etc . Rating: Better than average, well worth seeing , this is a highly agreeable follow-up . The picture will appeal to explosive action fans

Happened to catch this sequel on Sky Movies (which was transmitted sub-titled, rather than dubbed, so "thank you" Sky, for that) and thought it was great. I enjoyed it so much that I've just bought the first District 13 film on DVD from Amazon.

Cyril Raffaelli makes a good hero in the Jason Stathan mold and I thought the fight choreography was exceptional - as good as anything that comes out of Hong Kong, more realistic than theatrical, and very effective for that.

I was very impressed with Elodie Yung, too. Who wouldn't be?

Can't wait to see the first film, now ...

Well, let me get it out of the way -- "Ultimatum" is not as fun or exciting as the first film. Fans looking for more of the amazing David Belle and the stunts of parkour will find these elements lacking in the sequel. B-13 had a simple plot and explosive action sequences that still hold up well today. New director this time around and the crisp compositions and editing of the original are replaced with more uses of the hand-held cam, to less successful results. If you liked the opening camera-work in B13 -- you get a lot more of it here as the camera swooshes around the blocks of District 13 introducing the major players in the film. Fortunatly, the chemistry of Belle and Raffaelli is still strong, but they just don't have enough to do together in this plot. Speaking of plot, I would dare say that this sequel has too much plot and side characters. Belle seems like a supporting player in his own film. Now to be fair, there are a couple of good sequences that spark the original vibe of B-13, but sadly, they are few and far between. I had high hopes going into this one, but was let down overall. Let's hope that for the third film (come on, there has to be one) that both Belle and Raffaelli are given the room to really top and go beyond what we've seen them do before.

Jackie Chan has grown old, as has the Kung Fu craze, it is time for the French to show their talents in Parkeur and martial arts. The story itself doesn't make much sense, but the moves are simply great.

I have seen Banlieue 13 a long time ago and liked it for the action movie that it was, and this sequel was at least as packed with acrobatics, however I think it missed some of the feel of the first.

Bottom line: Hard to say anything more about the movie. Just watch it if you like action.

If this film doesn't make you want to go to the gym for at least 5 minutes, then I don't know what will :)

The incredibly acrobatic pairing of Parkour pioneer, David Belle and martial arts maestro Cyril Raffaelli team up once again for this sequel to the simply breathtaking District 13. It seems that the happy ending of the original film didn't come to fruition and the run down district of the films title is as crime ridden and grotty as ever. Once again, a shady government faction has designs to blow up the place (there's a bit more to it than that actually but that's basically it in a nutshell!) and it's up to our boys to re-team in an effort to put a stop to their nefarious plans.

Well, it has to be said that I concur with the general tide of opinion as regards this one; It's certainly a great watch in its own right yet pales against its predecessor not least of all due to the incredible Parkour displays which so elevated the original being extremely toned down here.......Why?!?! Nonetheless, as if to balance this, Raffaelli at least gets to show off far more of his incredible fighting skills in some truly amazing sequences, the like which are so seldom seen outside of Hong Kong cinema. It would have been really nice to see a few more appearances from members of the original cast (the hulking K2 and Leito's incredibly sexy sister would have been most welcome!) but it was not to be sadly. Still, as said previously the film stands well in its own right.....just try to overlook the somewhat sappy ending though.

Three years after the events of the previous 'District 13' film things have not improved in the District despite promises made at the time. Now a corrupt minister is planning to expel the inhabitants and demolish the buildings so profitable redevelopment can take place. To this end his has a shadowy agency raise tensions and turn public opinions against the inhabitants of the district. They have honest cop Captain Damien Tomaso arrested on a trumped-up charge and murder two other officers before making it look as if they were killed in the District. Unbeknownst to them the killing was filmed; when they realise this the go after the witness but he has passed the recording to Leito. Damien manages to call Leito but before he can do anything he must get away from the security forces. Once reunited Damien and Leito set about exposing the truth and saving the community; to do this they will have to unite the various groups living in the district.

It must be said the story isn't that deep and the villains couldn't be more obviously bad... that doesn't matter though. The story is just an excuse to give great scenes of parkour and martial arts action... and it really delivers these well. David Belle is amazing in the parkour scenes and Cyril Raffaelli is great in his martial arts scenes; these combine to give the film a feel similar to Hong Kong action films without it feeling as though the makers were copying that formula. The main cast is solid in the 'acting' as well as action scenes. The ending is a little disappointing; especially when we only hear distant explosions rather than seeing them... at least they weren't rendered in poor CGI. Overall this might not be a great film but it is a lot of fun and definitely delivers if you want action and a degree of humour.

These comments are based on watching the film in French with English subtitles.

After a successful mission against drug lords, the efficient Captain Damien Tomaso (Cyril Raffaelli) is framed at home with three kilograms of heroine planted by the police in his kitchen and he is arrested. Meanwhile a group of teenagers film the action of dirty agents leaded by Roland (Pierre-Marie Mosconi) from the security agency executing policemen in their car and then leaving the car with the corpses in the 13th District to blame the gangs and begin a civil war. Behind these events, the corrupt chief of the security agency Walter Gassman (Daniel Duval) had received a huge amount as kickback from the constructor Harriburton that has interest to construct buildings in the poor area and uses the situation to force the President of France (Philippe Torreton) to authorize to nuke five towers in the district. The teenager with the film is hunted by the police but he delivers the memory card to Leito (David Belle); meanwhile Damien calls him from the precinct asking for help. The friends team-up with five dangerous bosses to gather evidences to prove to the president that Gassman has provoked the conflict in their district.

"Banlieue 13 – Ultimatum" is a great sequel of the awesome 2004 "Banlieue 13". The story has non-stop action scenes very well choreographed and an excellent screenplay; the performances of Cyril Raffaelli and David Belle with the Parkour are again very impressive. Unfortunately I found the conclusion disappointing and pointless and it seems to contradict the objective of the dwellers of the 13th District that meet the president to avoid him from blowing up their homes. How could they be so naive to believe in the word of a politician that was under pressure? Therefore in the end the winner is Harriburton! My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "B13 U – 13o Distrito – Ultimato" ("B13 U – 13th District – Ultimatum")

It was not up to the standard to the first film. I still liked some fight scenes. I saw the deleted and extended scenes on the DVD, and it was basically 9 min of fight footage that was not used.

Which i think was too bad. I think most of them should have been included in the film. I feel they could have improved the film a bit. Poor decision in my opinion. I think it had some great new moves from Raffaelli and Belle. In my opinion is these the reasons for it:

worse editing in the fights, shaky camera, too little Parkour, too little fights for Belle, some poor camera angles and too little screen time for Belle

If they make a third film, which i think they will do. They should have learned the mistakes i mentioned from this film. I hope they can find an even balance between the fights and Parkour scenes. They would be perfect.

If you like the Parkour scene and/or are a fan of the first District 13 (english title of the movie), than you will like this too. It's obvious that they do have a much bigger budget, the stunts are more thought of and work very good. There are even quite a few fight scenes besides the Parkour stunts that you will see in here as well. Which makes it more balanced then part 1.

What didn't change though, is the paper thin story. If you are looking for a story, well then you shouldn't watch this (or Part 1 for that matter). It's all over the top and of course not based in any reality that we know of. But it's supposed to be like this and you should embrace it rather than hate it. It really does a good job and achieves in what it tries to do (imho)

I was really hoping for something amazing after the first one, but this was just OK. David Belle is the founder of French parkour and unlike to the first one, he really didn't show much skill in this one. He did have one crazy jump though. Cyril Raffaelli also didn't show off his karate and wushu skills like the first. He did have a couple cool scenes though. Now the story is a little continued from the first, but very weak compared to the first. But they did add a lot of colorful characters in this one that I enjoyed. They all had their personal fighting style or action. The music in this film was pretty nice and worked well with the action. Now back to the story of the film. It is the same basic background like the first, but with a different bad guy. I guess you could say is it is pretty uneventful. All you really wait for is Belle or Raffaelli to do something cool. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy parts of the film, just not all of it.

Loved the 1st, really love this as much. Glad they brought both boys back for a smash up continuance of the "story"...which isn't much, but isn't suppose to be IMO. As with my other favorite Bus-Genre of action movies (British Gangster and British Hooligan) I got great have great fun watching these 2 "parkour action" films. This one was just as much of a blast as the first. I only recently discovered them, bought both of them, District B13 and This one together, so got to see them back to back. With all the action films i've seen (my other favorite genres being Sci-fi and Drama, then horror/slasher to round out my love of cinema) I wa surprised to be able to say, wow, I've never seen those moves before...some of the parkour action scenes are just amazing to watch, leaving you with that "OMG that was some well cool moves"...That 'When you need to get a painting through a mob fight without a scratch" scenes was just amazing. Can[t recommend these 2 films enough if you appreciate the genre.

It mightn't entirely surprise you that David Belle, creator of 'Parkour' and star of District 13 and this follow up, isn't the finest actor in the galaxy. But then we aren't really here to admire his Uncle Vanya. A human tree frog, Belle makes Jason Bourne look arthritic. All that's required of writer-producer Luc Besson is to spin preposterous, half-arsed plots around Belle's 'running, jumping and rarely standing still' shtick to create 90 minutes of stupefying spectacle, a delirious, laugh-out-loud no-brainer.

But if the original could have benefited from even less story than it actually had, this one's certainly ironed out the problem. "I don't like it when you think", Leito (Belle) cautions supercop partner Damien (Cyril Raffaelli), and the audience, which is absolutely fine with us. This time they attempt to thwart the French secret service, who are killing cops to inflame an already ravaged District, then waiting for it to blow so they can erect penthouses amid the ashes. "It's like Iraq" sneers a gang leader, making the allegory explicit. Actually, it's like Robocop. But who cares about originality when you've got stunts?

Like two halves of some super-evolved organism, if Raffaelli's the upper muscle, Belle's the dancing feet – although it's Damien who disguises himself as a shapely lapdancer to foil the dealers. With so much homoerotic tension here it makes you wonder if all those 'faggot' insults flying around are a smokescreen: at any moment, you can imagine the pair falling to the floor, covering one another with tiny kisses.

B13 Ultimatum is simply a re-hash of the original B13, the latter merely serving as a stage for the incredible acrobatic stunts and action sequences displayed in the film. But, the sequel is a bit of a let down as the stunts seem repetitive after the first flick. The novelty has evaporated. Neither film has much of a plot, and in the sequel the story is similar to the first installment. In a near-future Paris, there is little distinction to be made between police and criminals, particularly in District 13. No one in their right mind would want to live in this place, and if you did you'd need advanced skills in martial arts and some high caliber weapons to survive from one day to the next. In both films crooked police elements are out to destroy criminal gangs in the city to increase their control, and are willing to sacrifice innocent people to accomplish these ends. In this improbable situation vicious thugs become heroes, of sorts, by thwarting police efforts. If you've seen the first movie, you've seen enough.

District 13: Ultimatum (2009) is a movie in my DVD collection that I recently rewatched on Amazon Prime. The storyline picks up where the last film left off with Damien and Leito initially going their separate ways. Damien goes back to working undercover and Leito tries to start a life outside the quarantine zone with Damien's sister. However, when the government plans drastic measures for the quarantine zone as the gangs inside have become unruly. Damien and Leito will need to get back together and go back into the quarantine zone to save the day.

This movie is directed by Patrick Alessandrin (White Fang: At the Edge of the World) and stars Cyril Raffaelli (Live Free or Die Hard), David Belle (Brick Mansions), David Belle (Guilty) and Elodie Yung (G. I. Joe: Retaliation).

This movie does a great job bringing back the original cast. The storyline isn't as interesting as the first film and seems to drag at times. I will say Elodie Yung was a tremendous addition to the cast and absolutely gorgeous. The action scenes aren't as interesting or impactful as the first film. There is a fight versus the police that is good, and the entire ending is entertaining and worthwhile...it just felt like it took too long to get there.

Overall, this is an entertaining addition to the action genre, it's just not anywhere near as good as the first film. I would score this a 6-6.5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

B13U gets to be another run of the mill sequel and doesn't add anything new from the original. While I liked the parkour and the action there wasn't anything significantly different from the first movie which proved disappointing. There was a little to complete lack of any guns which is surprising considering the number of gangsters involved. For solely action buffs and parkour fans, this movie would be a great addition to your collection. But for folks who are expecting some creativity and a decent storyline with the action not much really. This movie just picks it up from the original of 2004 and just stays there. 6/10.

The plot of District B13 Ultimatum is a lot sillier than the plot of the original movie, and our heroes are a bit older and as a result they move a bit slower, but this is nevertheless an entertaining sequel that you won't want to miss if you enjoyed the first one. Unfortunately, I did see the dubbed version rather than subtitled, and I'm sure that took away quite a bit of the quality. Even so, there were enough really good stunts to keep me watching for an hour and a half, including a great bit where a car drives through a high rise building. The free running is not as seamless as the original and there's some choppy editing to create the illusion of stunts rather than actually pulling them off, but this certainly isn't as bad of a sequel to a cult action flick as Ong Bak 3 was. I discovered D13-U and saw it on a rainy afternoon when there was nothing else to do and I ended up having a really good time.

NOT FOR EVERYONE

FOR ME ITS FUN & ENTERTAINMENT.

This one is so damn cool! Believe me. The best part is, the jumping actions! I also can call it, THE REAL actions movie! Full actions! You won't meet a slow scene, or even the boring one! There's more i liked from this movie. The way they edited it, and the background sounds made this movie so perfect! The story is a little bit similar with the first series. But still, totally amazing! I did even watched the first one like, many times, i enjoyed it! I barely didn't feel any bored. This one is MORE! You guys MUST SEE it!

Now the first B13 has a passable plot for action movie such as this and didn't take itself too seriously. Which is a positive thing, since it focused more on the parkour action which I am sure most of the audience want to watch. Sure the plot has to be there for the ride, but for a movie such as this it just ain't the main element. But this time around for "Ultimatum" it focuses too much on the plot for it's own good and tries to make it seem like one of those "Bourne" films which doesn't really work. Mainly since the the concept and the direction is still pretty much silly and can't be taken seriously. What I wanted was more of the awesome adrenaline pumped action sequences that was in the first "B13" movie. And for the most part that is what I got out of this, there is some great fight sequences in this and some great parkour sequences as well. But when it came to just talking and moving the plot along, that is where the slow down starts to come in which takes away from the fast paced action scenes. I am not really going to go in depth with the plot, but I will just say it's more of a slow paced and a bit more plot heavy compared to the first "B13". Basically the bad guys that are in high authority wants to blow up the ghetto district, by convincing the president to launch a bomb on the ghettos in "B13" by trying to somewhat frame some of the gangs in "B13". And while this is going on there is some conflict with the gangs and the authorities like the police. There are also more side character this time around, but none of them is memorable at least K2 and his boss Taha was somewhat memorable from the first film. Anyways it's been 5 years for this worthy sequel to come along, and if there is another sequel I hope to not have to wait another 5 years for it. Plus both those two actors and parkour experts are almost in their 40's now, and might slow down their performance with the stunts and all. It would have also been cool if K2 and even Leito's sister made a appearance or even a cameo, but too bad the guy that played K2 died of a heart attack in real life.

7.6/10

I guess you have to call this film a sequel; I can't imagine it making a grain of sense to anyone who hasn't seen the 2004 original. It's a sad effort; not just because it doesn't match its predecessor. Where B13 was bright and glossy despite the funk, the sequel looks dingy; where B13's cast was uniformly vivid and memorable (right down to the guy with a mouth full of panties) the sequel gives us anonymous bodies in motion, then halfway through deploys a mob of half-imagined, ethnic-stereotyped "good guys" who are given nothing much to do, dramatically or physically. Without Bibi Naseri (Tata), Tony D'Amario (K-2), and their gang, there's not one memorable face, let alone memorable character. Where in B13 David Belle looked fresh and omni-competent, you can see that five years has taken its toll on his looks and his skills. He's now old enough to play a complex character with a face to match, but all he's asked to do is play sidekick to co-star Cyril Raffaelli, who barely gets enough screen time to make an impact. The film runs just a quarter-hour longer than B13 (101 minutes) but seems twice as long and half as much fun. Only thing notable about it: the WORST English subtitles (clearly translated from Chinese) since the heyday of the Shaw Brothers.

The DVD of B13-Ultimatum is boxed with the original. If you already have that, don't buy this one, just rent it.

For those of us who unfortunately have not seen the original BANLIEUE 13 - aka DISTRICT 13 - (made in 2004 with the same crew except for the director - Pierre Morel), some of the background information that usually follows in a sequel is missing and according to many, the sequel here BANLIEUE 13:ULTIMATUM - aka DISTRICT 13: ULTIMATUM is not as strong a film. And perhaps that allows the viewer to appreciate fine French film making without the comparison!

Luc Besson (of the Trasnporter series et al) wrote this script (or rather, this plan of choreography, as there is not a lot of spoken dialogue in this fast-paced thriller) and Patrick Allessandrin directs a story of a region of Paris (District 13) that is cordoned off the rest of Paris by a group of five warlords who manage to control the drug ridden violent region. Basically the tale is that of two men - Captain Damien Tomaso (Cyril Raffaelli) and undercover cop of the 'good' police and Leïto (David Belle), an ex-thug who in the previous film infiltrated a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb. That was supposedly in 2010. The film opens some years later when District 13 is now in control of power over the government and the 'bad police' are attempting to destroy the area and rebuild according to their greedy plans. The action is the story and the action is immensely exciting! David Belle invented a discipline known as Parkour, which consists of moving quickly and efficiently in any environment, using only the abilities of the human body, and though his acting credits are minimal, he is stupefying in his live action role. Belle and Raffaelli are the reasons to watch this thriller as their screen chemistry is magnetic. Other standout performances in the film include the much tattooed Elodie Yung as Tao (the principal gang queen), Philippe Torreton as the much oppressed President, and the evil appearing Daniel Duval as the nemesis who turns the keys of the plot.

The cinematography is superb, the musical score is French rap music that while it suits the mood of the film becomes irritating in its repetitiveness. In all this is an escape film that is high on excitement is not very high on intelligent dialogue. But put Bell and Raffaelli together and the combustion is authentically credible.

Grady Harp

District 13 is a walled off section of Paris where gangs and criminals have taken over. Leïto keeps blowing holes in the wall which brings in the cops. African gang leader Molko wants him to stop. Police captain Damien Tomaso dresses up to catch drug lords. There is a corrupt land deal with corrupt government officials. Mysterious government agents kill some cops which is caught on video by some kids. The dead cops are dumped in front of some gangsters in an attempt to heighten tension. Tomaso is framed by other cops. The President is unable to call on Tomaso and is forced to call in Gassman who is part of the corruption.

District 13 is still a compelling idea. It's reminiscent of 'Escape from New York' and also has a point to make about modern French society. The stunt are still great. I love some of the real action going on. However some of silliness does detract from the movie. Apparently, the military has guns but they can never draw fast enough to shoot them. I know it's a deliberate style but it gets annoyingly repetitive.

I do not agree with the "I-was-let-down" consensus. Yes, the film may boast a copy-paste procedure sometimes (watch esp. the opening credits, but it is also hard to miss the more malevolently mixed cultural references), but it is also difficult not to notice the palpable changes: the comic strip tongue-in-cheek tone is still there, but it is subdued in favor of a more, if not elaborate, thoughtful structure: political seriousness is taken into account, and at the moment you would say it can't get any cheesier the way the script takes itself seriously, then you get a delicious line by one of the two male leads and poetic (well, why not?) justice is restored. It is actually more menacing than it may seem, especially towards the ridiculing portrait of the (liberal-democratic) president, and various not-so-hidden agendas. People who complain for less action, should park their hyperactivity here, and pay attention to the delicious dialogue between Belle and Raffaelli: only the french can make their heroes bond without to much emphasis on buffness, make them talk like philosophy graduates, make sense and embark on action just after the right amount of talking. The only thing I thought disappointing was, although this time the producer and the director get it right and don't serve us the parkour choreographies in the first ten minutes, that the physical urban ballet was "enhanced" by editing and an on-the-comic-side scale: that was one point that deprived the film of its bullseye physical charm (I am afraid that the two actors being now in their mid-thirties won't try again any of the athletics without digital crutches). Watch it though for the delicious pieces of dialogue between the leads: I am almost tempted to shout "Descartes lives and kicks ass!", but I can surely say that such a concoction of communicative male bonding, comic delicacies and animated political commentary makes me want to see it again.