Jean Luc Besson has given us The Fifth Element, Leon (The Professional), La Femme Nikita, Taken, and The Transporter, discovering he wrote this French movie made it essential viewing.
In the near future, Paris is divided from social decay and District 13 is a walled off slum full of drugs and gangs. A missing bomb means the government has to send in one of its officers, Cyril Raffaelli, into the area to recover it. Inside a gang has kidnapped the sister of David Belle, and he has to return their missing drugs in exchange for his sister’s life.
The story is derivative and the characters cliched but, in the tradition of many good action films with the same problem (eg Ong Bak), the physical talent of the actors and cinematography compensates. Rafaelli is brimming with martial arts skills and Belle is one of the originators of Parkour (and he is a super smooth mover). Put the two of them together with a bunch of seedy gangsters with guns, some social commentary, and a secret government agenda, and the film moves along quite nicely.
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