District 13 Mad Car Breakout

Clip 4. Trapped in a police station the only way to escape the corrupt cops is by car…free driving to freedom. Stunning stunt. Car park or freedom. Written and produced by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element; Léon; Nikita), the futuristic action-thriller DISTRICT 13 marks the directorial debut of cinematographer Pierre Morel (Unleashed; The Transporter) and stars Cyril Raffaelli (Kiss Of The Dragon; Taxi 2) and David Belle (Femme Fatale), the latter being one of the co-founders and leading proponents of the film’s featured extreme sport of Free Running (or le parkour).
The year is 2010 and in the city of Paris government authorities have taken the extreme measure of building huge walls around any urban districts known for being criminally troublesome, withdrawing the police force and leaving the locals to fend for themselves. One such area is District 13, a ghetto notorious for its resident gangs, killers and drug-dealers…
After a truck transporting a massively destructive missile is hijacked while passing through the city, the missile ends up in the hands of District 13’s ruthless druglord, Taha (Bibi Naceri). Hoping to recover the missile, the French police force decides to send in one of their most elite officers, Damien (Cyril Raffaelli), a martial arts expert and a master of undercover infiltration. But to accomplish his mission, Damien must hook up with someone who knows the area inside out. The perfect candidate proves to be a man named Leito (David Belle), a resident of District 13 who, distrustful of the authorities, has been waging a one-man war against the corruption that is destroying the ghetto into which he was born. Leito also has a more personal score to settle with the druglord – six months earlier Taha kidnapped his sister, Lola (Dany Verissimo), as payback for Leito’s interference in his criminal activities. With only 24 hours to get into District 13, find the missile and defuse it before it kills millions of innocent people, Damien and Leito have got to think – and move – fast!
As slick and stylish as you would expect a film produced by Luc Besson to be, DISTRICT 13 moves at a breakneck pace from start to finish. Paying homage to the early films of John Carpenter (most notably Escape From New York) and employing the "no visual tricks" action stylings of recent Thai films such as Ong-Bak, it is a jaw-dropping action extravaganza boasting brilliant stuntwork, spectacular martial arts face-offs and breathtaking roof-jumping Free Running sequences the likes of which have never been seen before in a full-length feature film.

Tags

David, free, parkour, running, stunts, luc, besson, and belle