Reviewed by Adam Boult
Stars David Belle, Cyril Rafaelli, Philippe Torreton, Daniel Duval, Elodie Yung, MC Jean Gab'1 Laouni Mouhid, Fabrice Fletzinger, Pierre-Marie Mosconi
Written by Luc Besson
Certification UK 18 | US R
Runtime 96 minutes
Directed by Patrick Alessandrin
Parkour is a rather daft past-time. Described by some of its proponents as a "movement philosophy" or a "dynamic interaction with the built environment," what it really is is a lot of running along and jumping off walls, mostly carried out by teenagers lacking the initiative to get a Saturday job and save up for a skateboard.
Nevertheless, the "sport", if that's what it is, has been gaining increasing recognition in recent years, in large part thanks to its inclusion in films such as Casino Royale, in which Sébastien Foucan, one of France’s most celebrated parkour-ists, got chased up a crane by Daniel Craig to impressive effect. Predating Casino Royale by two years, the Luc Besson-produced District 13 starred Foucan’s friend David Belle (widely credited as the founder of parkour,) as an inhabitant of the titular district, a walled-off suburb of Paris abandoned by the authorities to the various criminal gangs who run it. Belle’s character Leito is forced to team up with super-cop Tomaso (Rafaelli) in a face off against one of the slum’s nastier gangs, who they ultimately get the better of via an awful lot of running along and jumping off walls.
District 13: Ultimatum is similarly parkour-heavy. Set three years after the original film, the leads are reunited and once again team up to sort out a spot of gang trouble, while also getting to the bottom of some shady government shenanigans involving heavy explosives and property development. The plot is very much secondary to the action sequences this time around; there’s gun fights and fist fights galore, some stunning camera work and, of course, more parkour than you can shake a stick at, and with no obvious over-reliance on CGI it’s a genuinely impressive spectacle. Belle and Rafaelli are compelling leads, and there’s a some good gags, but overall Ultimatum is a rather pointless retread of the first film that brings nothing new to the table aside from an awkward stab at a sentimental “message” in the last act that is, unfortunately, laughably bad.
Nevertheless, it’s an entertaining romp and a joyfully dumb way to pass 96 minutes. But if they’re planning to make any more sequels, let’s hope they come up with a few more ideas first.