Brick Mansions Reviews

I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. I have to admit that I haven't seen the original version, 'Banlieue 13', and since it has a decent reputation, I might check it out at some point but, to be honest, I didn't care much for this remake. Indeed, as usual with a Luc Besson production, the damned was pretty weak and boring. I mean, there was a few good ideas and some of the action scenes using parkour were actually pretty neat. In fact, I discovered afterwards that David Belle actually invented the disciple known as Parkour which was pretty cool so no wonder that the guy was so impressive during those scenes. Unfortunately, Besson remains a rather weak writer who keeps lifting some obvious elements from other movies. Of course, you could argue that Quentin Tarantino does exactly the same thing but, with Besson, it makes his movies so generic and tedious to watch. To make things worse, will all respect to the late Paul Walker, the guy was just a rather boring actor and he played here the same character he kept playing through most of his career. Anyway, to conclude, it was all rather tedious and I don't think it is really worth a look. 

So it's a remake of District B13. For me especially with Paul Walker as the main character it feels like Escape From New York meets The Fast and The Furious. There are many awesome fight and parkour chase scenes that just pump up your adrenaline. Some of the fight scenes were cool and I just love seeing parkour especially thrown into fight scenes. David Belle plays the same character he did in the original foreign film. It's awesome that Vin Diesel was involved as the voice for Lino because David Belle's accent was to thick. The fight between Lola and Rayzah was hot haha. Some good little twists and turns. I think it was one RZA's better roles as a "villain". The ending was beautiful. I liked it, but it just seemed too generic. Nearly everything in it was carbon copy of other work. Yes it was a remake, but they could have changed it up a bit. Also Paul Walker was in his domain as an undercover cop working with a con who just so happens to do a few car chases. Not a bad film, but it wasn't special.