User Score
8.5 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 39 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 36 out of 39
  2. Negative: 1 out of 39

Review this movie

  1. Your Score
    10 out of 10
    Rate this:
    out of 10
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
  3. Characters remaining: 5000 out of 5000

  1. Mase
    Jun 13, 2006
    7
    Reminded me alot of the older 80's action flicks often caught on Showtime or Cinemax. A silly story and often times mindless but still alot of fun. There are good mindless movies and this is one of them. Go just for the incredible action scenes, indulge a little. Also I'd like to add "great soundtrack" the pulsing techno music added alot to the action scenes.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. MarcD.
    Jun 3, 2006
    9
    This movie is a hell of a lot of fun. It's probably much better that it has subtitles because some of the words coming out of these guys' mouths would have been laughable had they been translated - extremely sincere, elevated coversations. But the martial arts were fantastic. As we were leaving the theater, a stoner told his buddy, "Man, that guy's got hops!" Exactly. They both have hops. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. H.Kenney
    Jul 3, 2006
    9
    maybe the story sucks, but you cant help loving the action and just pure fun that this film oozes.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  4. TimO.
    Aug 7, 2006
    10
    Videogames, Movies, Critics, Directors, Actors and fans alike will look up to this film for years to come. An ideal action picture with a stunning plot and perfectly casted acting. Smart direction is the least you can say for this stunning epic adventure. It also gives you a brilliant outlook on the future without using a terrible script filled with celebrity cameos and gunshot wounds. The action is first class and non stop and the entire movie carries itself like no other action film has ever come close to. The action genre has just been defined by this unbelievable film. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  5. IceLee
    Sep 22, 2006
    10
    SUPER!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  6. PaulK.
    May 31, 2006
    8
    I enjoyed the fast paced action and especially the Parkour(the free movements, climbing on buildings, etc.) which was a blast to watch and gave Banlieue 13 a leading edge over the coreographed wire work that we've become accustomed to seeing ever since The Matrix(thanks Michelle C.). The plot was decent enough and coupling David Belle(Leito) and Cyril Raffaelli(Damien) was a smart move. I couldn't keep my eyes off of them. This is definitely worth seeing in the theater. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  7. MichelleC.
    Jun 1, 2006
    8
    This movie was fast paced, entertaining and fresh. The two lead characters aren't bad to look at either. Loved the music and acrabatics!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  8. HB
    Jun 4, 2006
    10
    Exhilerating film creating a new French style that I hope is the start of more like this to come.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  9. AwesomeDude
    Aug 7, 2006
    10
    Paris, 2010: The best plot ever. Amazing.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  10. SamBob
    Aug 7, 2006
    10
    Amazing film of all proportions...Excellent Action with amazing acting
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  11. AdultSwim
    Aug 7, 2006
    10
    Better than any action movie in the last 10 years. An American Classic.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  12. YousafK.
    Jan 16, 2007
    10
    Brilliant just brilliant. I couldn't sit in my sofa while watching this movie. I can't spend a day without watching it. It's a must watch for action freaks.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  13. [Anonymous]
    Jun 12, 2006
    4
    Action porn. Uninspired dialogue and story delivered by stuntmen instead of actors.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  14. DrewF.
    Jun 16, 2006
    8
    Saw this one at the Toronto Film Festival, a year ago. Just saw it again last night for a second time. Loved it then, loved it now. Very entertaining action film, combining parkour and martial arts into something that becomes it's own style. If you are an action movie fan, you WILL find some enjoyment here. I'd love to see David and Cyril team up again!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  15. SteveB.
    Sep 17, 2006
    9
    Hot chick, dirty cops, cool gangs, fast cars, explosions, drugs, guns, great fight scenes and great soundtrack with driving techno beats. Crazy environment, "Escape From New York" on steroids. A movie for the guys!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  16. SandraA.
    Sep 22, 2006
    10
    It's the best!!!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  17. Sam
    Sep 24, 2006
    10
    Ultimate lads film. This is just what I’ve been waiting for. Parkour is an amazing artist and great to watch!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  18. MikeN.
    Apr 23, 2007
    6
    Too much aciton- other Luc Besson films have a moral messge or internal conflict of the hero but not here.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  19. Aug 13, 2010
    8
    this film is entertaining and a surprise. it has its dumb elements but they don't interfere with your being engrossed in a nearly non stop chase. quirky and cute and fast and fun. One of the best action movies to come around in a long time. don't expect to learn anything or become aware of some social issue but you believe it all enough and care about the characters enough to enjoy yourself.
  20. Jan 12, 2012
    6
    Luc Besson has written a quite staggering quantity of high-octane action movies in recent years. Though he now rarely gets behind the camera himself, he's clearly not out of ideas by any means - in Hollywood, he's scribed all three Transporter films, Taken and From Paris with Love and have all been released in the last decade. Back home in France he's got another franchise on the go - District 13 (a sequel was released three years later). So it's not quite as slick or full of ideas as Besson's own directorial efforts, it's still immense fun. Martial artist Cyril Raffaelli and parkour founder David Belle play a crusading cop and a slum resident wronged by a powerful drug lord respectively, and their incredible physicality is exploited to the max in a series of eye-popping, gravity-defying, wirework-free action set pieces. The scenes that really stand out are the film's opening, where Leito (Belle) flees from some thugs across Parisian rooftops, and demonstrates the most creative way of getting down a stairwell ever committed to film, and also the scene where Tomasco (Raffaelli) single-handedly dispatches wave after wave of armed henchmen in a drug den. These are the kinds of scenes action movies are made for. They are truly outstanding. The scenes in between the action are a little under-whelming, and though Raffaelli and Belle are decent actors as well as stuntmen, they have very little to work with considering the emotionally empty script. The themes that the film addresses are also directly borrowed from Besson's previous French dystopian thriller Nikita - this isn't an outright complaint, it still makes for an entertaining enough back-story to the film, but it's a little less hard-hitting the second time round. District 13's jaw-dropping choreography and stuntwork make it a cut-above most action movie fare, and it's a heart-pumping thrill-ride throughout, but a hollow core and Besson's recycled ideas hold it back from being anything more. Expand
Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 28
  2. Negative: 0 out of 28
  1. Reviewed by: Lisa Nesselson
    70
    Fast, dumb fun.
  2. Reviewed by: Richard Schickel
    90
    Makes everything Hollywood has lately done in the action genre look clumsy, dull and stale. It is a short, nonstop stuntfest that, by going back to basics and placing them on the screen with simple, breathless stylishness, turns what is essentially a lowlife movie form into something one is not embarrassed to call "pure" cinema--all energy, movement and high kinetic wit.
  3. Reviewed by: Jim Ridley
    80
    Spread the word: This delirious import is the most (maybe the only) fun action movie of the summer.