Banlieue 13: Ultimatum

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.

I was a bit disappointed with B13 Ultimatum, and I'm judging it against the first installment of B 13. I expected it to be on par if not better than the original but I found it slower, flatter and far less dynamic. Somewhat similar to Matrix and Matrix Reloaded, the 1st being fresh and dynamic and the 2nd being more polished and elaborate, though I thought the latter was still very good. B13 Ultimatum is plagued by some bad scripting and cartoonish and ridiculous characters - like the face-tattooed Tao - and lost credibility as the film progresses, becoming a mediocre Hollywood action flick. One detail that I found amusing and ridiculous was the amount of gun-less cops that were mowed over by the two protagonists, yet when they did use guns, the shower of bullets seemed useless against the seemingly bullet-proof little Citroen or Renault get-away car.. Hollywood, eat your heart out.

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.

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.

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")