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District B13 (15)

Nicholas Barber
Sunday 09 July 2006 00:00 BST
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Free running or "parkour" is the urban acrobatics discipline which was showcased in a BBC advert four years ago, with David Belle, parkour's French founder, vaulting over the rooftops so he could get home in time for his favourite programme. District B13 exists for no other reason than to let us see more of Belle scrambling up walls and swinging around railings, like a cross between Jackie Chan and Spider-Man. But, frankly, that's reason enough.

The film was produced and co-written by Luc Besson, who may well have dashed off the script over a morning croissant, having watched Escape From New York the night before. Set in the near future, when Paris's most crime-ridden suburbs have been enclosed by concrete walls, it teams up Belle's vigilante with Cyril Raffaelli's cop. If it doesn't match Ong Bak, the last no-stunt-doubles fight-fest, that's mainly because it's all over so soon. Bring on District B14.

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