Fantastic Fest 2009: ‘District 13 Ultimatum’ Review

Between 2003 and 2004, two movies set a completely original and eye-opening precedent in the action genre.   One was ‘Ong Bak,’ which not only introduced the world to Tony Jaa, but launched a flurry of elbows and knees in the form of Muay Thai to the action stage.   The other film was Pierre Morel’s ‘District 13’ or ‘District B13’ depending on your preference.   A stylized and fast-paced actioner, the film took what Morel loved about films like ‘Escape From New York’ and injected a healthy dosage of thumping techno music and parkour-based fight and chase scenes.   In a nutshell, ‘District 13’ inspired so much more than mere awe, and films like ‘Casino Royale’ and ‘Live Free or Die Hard’ were clearly influenced in what Morel offered us.

Which brings me to ‘District 13 Ultimatum,’ a film whose chances of living up to its predecessor were as thin as rice paper.   This calls to the question, “How do you follow up such a groundbreaking action film?”   If you ask writer Luc Besson and director Patrick Alessandrin, you follow up a film like ‘District 13’ with similar action, stagey and flat sequences, and very little else.   To put it bluntly, ‘District 13 Ultimatum’ has absolutely nothing new to offer.

Sadly, one area where the film differs from the original is in story.   In this film, chaos continues to reign within the walls that surround District 13 in the middle of Paris.   Five gangs run rampant inside, and each fights for control of the area.   Outside, the newly appointed government attempts to find a way to regain order.   Unfortunately, a segment of the government has other ideas.   A group executes policemen and leaves their bodies inside the gang area.   This leads to a heightened sense of violence, and the war begins bubbling up faster than before.   At the center of all of this are Damien, played by Cyril Raffaelli, a cop who has been framed for drug trafficking, and Leito, played by David Belle, a street-wise hustler who remains inside the walls to help control from the inside out.

Really, the feel of each of these films can be summed up in the usages of music found within each.   The soundtrack for ‘District 13’ was fast-paced techno, pushing and pushing in a speedy progression that hardly ever let you catch your breath.   The soundtrack for ‘District 13 Ultimatum’ is a thumping, bass-filled hammer of a house mix.   It hits, and it hits hard.   Unfortunately, there appears to be very little style about it, and, before long, it grows monotonous and, by the end, mind-numbing.   Alessandrin is clearly no Morel, and any ideas of the film being style over substance go right out the window with the sight of the first closeup on action.   It is very difficult to tell what is going on at any given moment during the action sequences.   There really aren’t that many, so it’s not all that noticeable, but saying there aren’t that many action sequences in the film that followed ‘District 13’ is like saying there won’t be that many ships in the next ‘Pirates’ movie.

But you can’t just sit back and make claims about what ‘District 13 Ultimatum’ is not.   It’s not as good a film as its predecessor.   That goes without saying, but is it a good action film in general?  The answer to that is also “No.”   The story plods along meandering to its eventual and heavy-handed ending.   The two leads have very little to do.   There is one stylish, chase sequence, and it’s over faster than a hiccup.   In fact, Belle isn’t given much of anything to do past the halfway point other than to make up the second half of a suppossed duo.   Without giving away anything about the ending, let’s just say the film never catches its foothold, and it seems like, by the end, Alessandrin and crew realized this.   The end result is a denouement made up of watching lights turn off.   If that gets your adrenaline pumping, have at it.   For the rest of us action junkies, it takes a little more than hearing explosions way off in the distance to get us excited.

And, in the end, that’s where ‘District 13 Ultimatum’ seems to have its head, way off in the distance.  It fails on so many levels, that the high points of the film, and there are a few, don’t even seem worth mentioning.  Raffaelli and Belle pull the same class of chemistry between one another, sadly making you miss how much fun they seemed to be having in the first film.  A few action sequences probably worked like a charm on paper, but derailed once Alessandrin came in to execute.  The film isn’t a complete waste of time, but you never lose that sense that it could have and probably should have been so much more.  It won’t be memorable.  Like so many action films, it will flit away from your memory faster than a Tony Jaa kick.  It’s sad when it happens to even the most basic of action movies.  It’s even sadder when it happens to a film that followed something so amazing.