jrosenf1
Joined Apr 2006
Welcome to the new profile
Our updates are still in development. While the previous version of the profile is no longer accessible, we're actively working on improvements, and some of the missing features will be returning soon! Stay tuned for their return. In the meantime, the Ratings Analysis is still available on our iOS and Android apps, found on the profile page. To view your Rating Distribution(s) by Year and Genre, please refer to our new Help guide.
Badges2
To learn how to earn badges, go to the badges help page.
Reviews11
jrosenf1's rating
I pretty much knew going in what this French actioner was going to be like, so I didn't have hopes of it being an Oscar contender. I just wanted to be entertained by it, and thought it might have little bit more to it.
It didn't. It WAS mildly entertaining, due to the terrific action sequences, amusing tribute to "Scarface", and colorful characters & scenery. But that's all there was. The plot was threadbare: in 2010 Paris, a roof-hopping vigilante named Leito (Belle) teams up with tough-as-nails cop Damien (Raffaelli) to infiltrate a drug dealers' lair. That happens to be located smack dab in the middle of a walled-off ghetto known as District B13, which is filled with fast & furious cars and fill-in-the-ethnic-blank junkies. The pair must defuse a bomb placed in the center of the district that supposedly only Damien can disarm. But the bomb is in possession of Tony Montana-wannabe Taha (Naceri), a ruthless coke-head who has taken Leito's sister as his drugged-up sex slave (a-la the Tony/Gina/Manny angle from SCARFACE). The pair must fight through Taha's band of thugs, namely head goon K2 (D'Amario) and get to the bomb before it's too late. Spliced in are some truly magnificent action sequences: wall climbing, acrobatic fighting, and enough bone breaking and bullets flying to make me dizzy. All of this is set to a thumping techno soundtrack and reminded me of a mixture of Crouching Tiger, Mad Max, The Matrix trilogy and Jackie Chan on crack. Sure the scenes were entertaining, but they were too few and far between, and with nothing else to hold my interest in the meantime, it left me waiting for the "good parts" to start again- never a good sign.
The ending has a political message thing to it, but it rang pretty hollow with the tone of the film. It was what it was- entertaining to a point, but by no means should be used as a film of any social relevance. Oh well, maybe they'll get it right in the inevitable sequel.
It didn't. It WAS mildly entertaining, due to the terrific action sequences, amusing tribute to "Scarface", and colorful characters & scenery. But that's all there was. The plot was threadbare: in 2010 Paris, a roof-hopping vigilante named Leito (Belle) teams up with tough-as-nails cop Damien (Raffaelli) to infiltrate a drug dealers' lair. That happens to be located smack dab in the middle of a walled-off ghetto known as District B13, which is filled with fast & furious cars and fill-in-the-ethnic-blank junkies. The pair must defuse a bomb placed in the center of the district that supposedly only Damien can disarm. But the bomb is in possession of Tony Montana-wannabe Taha (Naceri), a ruthless coke-head who has taken Leito's sister as his drugged-up sex slave (a-la the Tony/Gina/Manny angle from SCARFACE). The pair must fight through Taha's band of thugs, namely head goon K2 (D'Amario) and get to the bomb before it's too late. Spliced in are some truly magnificent action sequences: wall climbing, acrobatic fighting, and enough bone breaking and bullets flying to make me dizzy. All of this is set to a thumping techno soundtrack and reminded me of a mixture of Crouching Tiger, Mad Max, The Matrix trilogy and Jackie Chan on crack. Sure the scenes were entertaining, but they were too few and far between, and with nothing else to hold my interest in the meantime, it left me waiting for the "good parts" to start again- never a good sign.
The ending has a political message thing to it, but it rang pretty hollow with the tone of the film. It was what it was- entertaining to a point, but by no means should be used as a film of any social relevance. Oh well, maybe they'll get it right in the inevitable sequel.