District 13: Ultimatum

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")

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.

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 ...