The big innovation here is that the two nimble leads, stuntmen-turned-stars, are devotees of parkour, a fancy French word for the fluid use of urban environments as jungle gyms.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Go for the dazzling, if repetitive, human stunt work. Endure the appallingly simplistic politics.
The Hollywood Reporter by Frank Scheck
By most standards, District B13 is a fairly routine summer action movie, albeit one in French. But what makes it unique are the truly amazing and kinetic action scenes featuring Parkour pioneer Belle and co-star Cyril Raffaelli.
Fast, dumb fun.
Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington
A ridiculous but exciting action movie.
Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer
It may be subtitled, and the faces may be unfamiliar, but District B13 is the best buddy action movie around.
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.
Morel tries to keep the energy up for 85 minutes straight, but the film never manages to top itself, and in spite of the political overtones, it doesn't provide much thematic sustenance.