Friday, November 10, 2006

Layman movie review: District B13



Man, I really wanted to hate this movie. I spent the first half hour of it actively trying to hate it, but in the end it won me over. I didn't even watch it at double speed, which is, of course, how I judge whether a movie is good or not.

I wanted to hate it because it was made by Luc Besson, who made 5th Element-- a movie which I keep trying to like, but end up hating. Funny, I remember parts of 5th Element very positively, and every couple years I go back and rewatch it, and remember why I hated it all over again. It's starts really well, and has great visuals, and I have great respect for Bruce Willis (who doesn't get near as much credit as he deserves as an actor.) I also have tremendous affection for Milla Jojovich, who I saw open for The The in the early 90s, in her pre-actor, post-model days as a singer, and she was absolutely mesmorizing. I've been a little bit in love with her ever since, and the weird thing is, it's not physical. Milla is pretty much the polar opposite of a "John Layman girl," and, yet, because of that show I saw her at those many years ago, I will always think she is awesome, no matter how many dumb action movies she does now. Anyway... 5th Element sucks. Chris Tucker, who I normal like, just wrecked the movie, and it totally deterorates as soon as he teams up with Bruce. I freaking HATE that dumb movie. And so I really wanted to hate District B13 too.

But it was pretty good. I bet David Baron would love it, 'cause it is not particularly taxing on the intellect. It's sorta Luc Besson remaking Escape from New York as a Hong Kong buddy cop action flick. It stars white, French Vin Diesel and another French guy who looks sorta like Image Comic's Eric Stephenson, if Eric was a tattooed thug instead of a pimp. There a lot of acrobatic chop socky sort of fighting, a few twists regarding the bad guys, a nice set up, and a good "fuck the power" ending.


Anyway, it's the best Netflix I've done in a while. I recommend it, as a cut above, certainly, the typical dumb Hollywood action fare. Of course, I haven't been watching a lot of movies lately, and I'll blog about that some other time, 'cause that definitely deserves it's own post.

2 comments:

David Baron: said...

I will rent it... I did like 5th element, a lot. But at the same time when it came out I was a senior in HS and I think that movie was made for me.

Unknown said...

The 5th Element works a lot better if you think of it as "Space Cabbie:The Movie".