In near future France, the government has cut off the banlieues (comparable to the projects in American cities) in a bout of misguided Escape from New York fandom, built walls around them and has closed down all police stations, schools and hospitals.
When local gangleader Taha (Bibi Naceri) steals an experimental neutron bomb that is transported through the are, the police sends in their best man, Damien Tomaso (Cyril Raffaelli). With the help of formerly jailed banlieue-dweller and hobby Robin Hood Lieto (David Belle), who has a vendetta against Taha of his own, Damien has to fight through the hostile territory of the banlieue to reach the bomb before an automatic timer can run out and the bomb vaporizes two million people.
I'm not as completely enamored of Banlieue 13 as some other people whose taste I respect are. Oh, it's an very exhilarating movie in the way it mixes Parkours and martial arts, and a great example of the action movie as a genre about bodies in motion, always at its best when its heroes move with improbable speed and skill through urban environments.
It's just a little sad that the film falls flat on its face as soon as it is trying to pause a little and go into the direction of "social commentary" or that elusive thing known as "human emotions", both things I have seen Hong Kong movies add to the genre to great effect. I blame Luc Besson's script, and am a little puzzled how someone with so much experience as a writer could be responsible for the film's ropey plotting, especially the nonsensical conspiracy at the core of the film. At least you can't say Besson's heart isn't in the right place.
Don't get me wrong, it is still great fun to watch and blows most Western action films of the last decades away, it's just not complex enough to be a great action film.
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