Banlieue 13 (2004)

My former favorite movie of all time... and I've never written a proper review for it! Time to right that horrible wrong.

I saw it again a few weeks ago, and confirmed that it's indeed still one of the best action movies I've ever seen. It doesn't just feature David Belle in the lead role (the founder of parkour), but the also-very-talented Cyril Raffaelli as his sidekick. The story is the same as in the remake, but including minor plot adjustments: everything is better in the original - from the soundtrack, to the scenography, to the flawless introduction, to the character relations, build-up, conclusion, choreography, everything. Here it feels real. It makes sense. The action's full steam all the way but never too much, and it manages - maybe because the stunts are real - to always seem believable.

There's not much more to say about this. Just watch it. If you liked the remake: watch this! If you don't want to watch both: watch this. If you've watched this one before and liked it: watch it again! It doesn't seem to ever get dull, or irrelevant, or outdated. The moral of the movie's maybe more important now than ever before, but even if all you want is some good action: this'll suffice. It's in French, but better watch the subbed version anyway, remake considering. It's still fantastic.

 rated 5/5: friggin awesome