by: Chris Eaton source: Twitch
Wow. This came out of left field. District B13 is perhaps thee film, that best describes and accomplished what Luc Besson the writer/producer aims for: Pulp action. He took a cool concept, in this case, Parkour, and turned it into 80 minutes of sheer, uncut, awesome celluloid. District B13, which was Pierre Morel’s (Taken) first directing gig, even included Parkour’s founder as a main character. albeit, David Belle played a fictional character in the no man’s land that happens to be in the middle of Paris.
Either way you look at it, the film is a blast. Using real Parkour, with no wires or “safety devices” made District B13 pretty much a French version of a Thai action film. So when you got something popular, what do you do?
Exploit it.
Such is what Besson is doing. His production company, EuropaCorp has announced that they are currently in production of an American version of District B13 called Brick Mansions. Just… read this synopsis.
Chicago suburbs: nobody has control over Brick Mansions. Damien, an undercover cop, is facing an extreme mission: a mass-destruction weapon was stolen by Tremaine, the most powerful drug dealer in the Ghetto and Damien needs to infiltrate the gang to defuse the bomb. To accomplish his mission, he needs help from someone who knows well Brick Mansions: Lino, an expert at getting out of trouble with his extraordinary agility. Lino has had problems with the police in the past, but needs the mission to rescue his sister abducted by Tremaine. Will he accept joining forces with Damien?…Will they succeed in bringing down Tremaine?
It’s pretty much verbatim the story of the original film. Except it’s set in Chicago, it’s called Brick Mansions, and Leito is now Lino. I really have no idea how this is going to work but I guess they’re making it somehow. Only question is how much Parkour is going to be in this film? France is a giant playground for Parkour runners as everything is in close quarters. Chicago, not so much. But hey, Luc Besson thinks it’s going to work, so I’m willing to give it a try.