70
Metascore
28 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90TimeRichard SchickelTimeRichard SchickelMakes 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.
- 83Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerIt may be subtitled, and the faces may be unfamiliar, but District B13 is the best buddy action movie around.
- 80Village VoiceVillage VoiceSpread the word: This delirious import is the most (maybe the only) fun action movie of the summer.
- With backing from the film's producer and co-writer, Luc Besson, the director, Pierre Morel, mounts a breakneck B movie inspired by Hong Kong action extravaganzas, the gritty genre classics of John Carpenter and the Thai neo-kung fu parable "Ong Bak." He hasn't reinvented this particular wheel, but he gets it spinning with delirious savoir-faire.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyThe 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.
- 70VarietyLisa NesselsonVarietyLisa NesselsonFast, dumb fun.
- 70L.A. WeeklyErnest HardyL.A. WeeklyErnest HardyGo for the dazzling, if repetitive, human stunt work. Endure the appallingly simplistic politics.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckBy 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.
- 67The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasMorel 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.
- 63Chicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonChicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonA ridiculous but exciting action movie.