DISTRICT 13: ULTIMATUM is very much a lesser sequel to the first film, which was an unexpected hit that brought humour, martial arts and Parkour to the screen in a fresh, inventive way. This time around, the freshness is gone along with director Pierre Morel, who went and made the excellent TAKEN with Liam Neeson instead.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad film, it just doesn't have the edge that made the original so good. The filmmakers try too hard to repeat the formula without adding anything new. So the bomb plot is a tired rehash of what came before, and the Parkour scenes in particular have lost their appeal. It's more obvious here that many of the stunts are staged, and that particularly hurts during the opening sequence's balcony flip. I would have thought the filmmakers would have done everything in their power to top what came before, but they just don't have the guts to do so.

One area the film excels in is the action, and in particular the fight scenes involving the excellent Cyril Raffaelli. There are brutal, efficient and slick, incorporating Hong Kong-style stunts and action all the while and never disappointing. The fight with the Van Gogh painting and the corridor battle with the police are both highlights of the movie, although it's a shame that the movie never features a decent opponent for our hero. The supporting cast barely get a look in, although Elodie Yung's tattooed gang boss makes for an arresting presence. Watch this for the action but don't go in expecting quality approaching DISTRICT 13's.

District 13 is a walled off section of Paris where gangs and criminals have taken over. Leïto keeps blowing holes in the wall which brings in the cops. African gang leader Molko wants him to stop. Police captain Damien Tomaso dresses up to catch drug lords. There is a corrupt land deal with corrupt government officials. Mysterious government agents kill some cops which is caught on video by some kids. The dead cops are dumped in front of some gangsters in an attempt to heighten tension. Tomaso is framed by other cops. The President is unable to call on Tomaso and is forced to call in Gassman who is part of the corruption.

District 13 is still a compelling idea. It's reminiscent of 'Escape from New York' and also has a point to make about modern French society. The stunt are still great. I love some of the real action going on. However some of silliness does detract from the movie. Apparently, the military has guns but they can never draw fast enough to shoot them. I know it's a deliberate style but it gets annoyingly repetitive.

I watched this movie some weeks ago and noted it was showing on TV again. As the description referred to another movie with the same characters, I opened the IMD to read the plot to ensure it was not the one I had seen. I found it was the one I had seen and it received a very low score from fellow IMDb members. I think it is undeserving of such a low mark, yes it is an action movie which is not everyone's cup of tea, and I do not watch the standard beef/hemen that churn out action movie after action movie etc etc with little aptitude for acting or even a decent script.

This movie was action however it was done with a little more flair than the average, it had a believable story of the future that seems all too real the way the world is going and the two lead actors were very believable and fit to say the least.

It was a very pleasurable movie to watch, no it is not going to take you to the extremes of all your emotions and senses, it is just a nice movie to watch with talented actors and stunts. I only speak English so I had to gauge the mood while reading subtitles and I still thought it was worth watching and I would watch it again.