BRICK MANSIONS – The Review

It’s a shame actor Paul Walker didn’t go out on something more substantial than the disposable action opus BRICK MANSIONS.   In the Detroit of 2018 police have constructed a containment wall around a massive housing project occupied by the most dangerous criminals to protect the rest of the city. Undercover cop Damien Collier (Paul Walker) and ex-convict Lino (David Belle), team up when drug kingpin Tremaine (RZA) kidnaps Lino’s girlfriend (Catalina Denis), then sneaks a nuke into the complex, straps it to a rocket and aims it toward the city.

BRICK MANSIONS is a cheesy Canadian-lensed timewaster that plays like a PG-13-rated hybrid of THE RAID and DREDD, but is actually a remake of the 2004 French film DISTRICT B19 (in which David Belle played the same role). BRICK MANSIONS isn’t much more than a stream of fight scenes and car chases. The most memorable sequence is the opening one, which introduces Lino. The camera follows David Belle as he leaps from building to building, swings (but doesn’t yell) like Tarzan, and runs across rooftops, up ladders, and down stairways with a group of multi-racial thugs on his tail. It’s the film’s exhilarating highlight but it’s all downhill from there. Belle is a co-founder and super-star of the sport/discipline Parkour (or “free running”), which is a selling point of BRICK MANSIONS (Walker’s fight scenes are shot differently – close-ups, shorter shot lengths and faster cuts). If you wonder why Belle hasn’t been given his own action showcase before now, his performance here might be a clue. The guy can run up walls but he can’t act. His voice dubbed, Belle (who parkour fought Daniel Craig in CASINO ROYALE) has serious trouble with concepts like line readings and charisma, but the action scenes are executed with so much flair and energy that director Camille Delamarre almost succeeds in covering for him and for making us forget about how thin the connecting story is.

I recommend BRICK MANSIONS to Paul Walker fans and action junkies who don’t appreciate plot and character development slowing things down. BRICK MANSIONS rumbles along at a breakneck 85 minutes, only occasionally braking for exposition and even in those instances, the pauses don’t last long. Dialogue serves little purpose beyond interrupting the film’s hideous techno score, and a couple of Walker’s lines are chilling in retrospect (“No steering, No brakes!” he screams just before crashing a car). BRICK MANSIONS is one of those films where you appreciate the artistry of the action, then forget about it as soon as you get into the car and carefully head home.

2 of 5 Stars