I find it inexplicable that this film has garnered positive, even glowing, reviews. Perhaps some critics reflexively award a little added respect to any movie sporting subtitles. Were this in English, you'd find it sitting alone on a Blockbuster shelf or running on late-night cable between soft-core porn and an old Lorenzo Lamas flick.
The plot is a watered-down version of Escape from New York. Instead of an entire city walled off to hold society's undesirables, it's a mere few blocks in Paris. But the titular district never seems all that dilapidated. Aside from the dizzying opening sequence that takes us on a tour of the various bums, lowlifes and junkies, the neighborhood doesn't look half-bad. If the rents were especially reasonable, I'd happily live in District B13.
But we're to understand that the place is a mess, filled to the brim with social and economic injustice, and by the end, the societal commentary is rather heavy. Until then, the barricaded area serves only as a playground for stuntmen. And every character in this film, regardless of his station in life, is an exceptional stuntman with limitless stamina.
An early chase sequence has ghetto hero Leito (David Belle) effortlessly scurrying up the sides of buildings, hopping rooftops, and diving into various tiny holes and crevasses without losing a breath. The stunts are superbly performed but defy reality even by Jackie Chan standards. If you're willing to suspend your disbelief, the scene does have a certain kinetic energy and an occasional "Oh, wow" factor. But the film never one-ups it. There are no interesting set pieces, so each subsequent action scene is just another overchoreographed superhuman fight or chase, which all begin to feel alike.
When B13's resident drug kingpin—who frequently kills his own subordinates in clichéd villain fashion—obtains a neutron bomb capable of vaporizing 2 million people, Leito is forced to team up with the similarly super-powered cop Damien (Cyril Raffaelli) to disarm the explosive. But it's hard to feel for the plight of the two unbeatable heroes when they're more than willing to ignore countdown mode in favor of vanquishing enemies they could easily circumvent.
Belle and Raffaelli perform some wondrous feats of athleticism, but that doesn't change the simple fact that, in any language, District B13 is forgettable, brainless action merde. Pardon my French.