Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This English-language remake of the excellent DISTRICT 13 was once again made by the French, albeit shot in Canada this time around. It's pretty much a scene-for-scene remake of the original, although inevitably not as good for reasons which we shall come to. It's only as the running time goes on that crucial differences to the original come to light and unfortunately they're not improvements.First, let's get the good stuff listed. This is a short, snappy, action thriller, with plenty of shoot-outs and fight scenes to recommend it. The framing is often good and there's a fine sense of setting in the grubby, run-down locations. One of the highlights is the return of David Belle, playing the same character as he did in the original; it's just an annoyance that they decided to dub him rather than have him use his French accented English.Paul Walker is an odd but obvious choice for Cyril Raffaelli's character in the original, but he's no martial artist so the martial arts fights have been replaced by fist fights and a greater emphasis on car chases. Catalina Denis and Ayisha Issa are the requisite scantily-clad women who hang around to show off their bodies and little more is required of them than that.The problems are slight at first but begin to mount up as the narrative progresses. First off, the editing is horrendous. The early Parkour scenes are ruined by the refusal to shoot the stunts in single, fluid takes; there's always a dodgy edit halfway through, cutting to a different angle and lessening the impact. Sometimes one of Belle's jumps has three or four edits in it which ruins the whole flow of the thing. BRICK MANSIONS does a lot right, but it gets this crucial editing oh so wrong. I remember in the old days of Jackie Chan's 1980s movies that they sometimes wanted to capture a stunt from different angles, so they would just replay it, which was a much better way of doing it.The second problem is RZA, playing the drug dealer villain of the piece. RZA is one of those guys who really loves himself and the film-makers seem to love him too, so there's an unbelievable twist at the end which has to be seen to be believed. The ending is frankly laughable in this respect, and a far cry from the power of the original movie. It's the epitome of sanitised, PG-13 entertainment, and I could cry. At least the rest of the film is in the right spirit, so it's only the ending where it falls apart.

I've never seen the original and never will. Truthfully I only watched this movie because of Paul Walker. My expectations weren't high so it was a nice surprise when I ended up liking this movie. The action sequences were killer and had me on the edge of my seat. They were high intensity with awesome moves. It may not be the work of geniuses but it was entertaining.If you're not in the right mood you probably won't be able to stomach it. It has a great premise but a pretty rubbish storyline. If you want some mindless action then give it a go. Alternatively just enjoy Paul Walker doing his thing. It's really not that bad.

In case you are wondering, I did see several years ago the French movie "District B13", which is the original movie that lead to this remake. However, I have completely forgotten what it was like - though that fact does make it easier to judge this remake on its own terms instead of comparing it to the original. Despite this perspective, the movie just didn't do it for me. There is a strong whiff of the movie "Escape From New York" here, as well as to a lesser extent "Robocop" and other Hollywood movies, so there isn't a feeling of originality here. The script also suffers from the fact that neither the protagonists or antagonists are that compelling or particularly fleshed out. I know, I know - the script really doesn't matter in a movie like this. What matters is the action and other kinds of eye candy. Well, the movie doesn't do that well on those angles as well. The action (which is so-so at its best) is rapidly edited to try to hide the fact the actors can't pull off multiple moves in the same shot, and obvious stuntmen are used for the few trickier moments. And while the movie was a co-production between two countries (France and Canada), the movie often has a cheap look and feel to it. It's obvious why this movie did unspectacular business at the box office, though why the late Paul Walker apparently saw promise in this project is a question we may never learn the answer to.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Damien Collier (Paul Walker) is a cop assigned to infiltrate the Brick Mansions housing project, one of the most violent and dangerous areas, with the assistance of infamous con Lino (David Belle.) Tremaine Alexander (RZA), a notorious drug kingpin whose gang controls the area, has gotten hold of a device that could unleash a missile capable of destroying the entire city, and Collier must retrieve the code to stop it. But everything may not be as it seems...There is undoubtedly greatness in death. When a person is no longer with us, even the most mundane, seemingly least talented person finds their craft appreciated that little bit more, and so we have Brick Mansions, Paul Walker's parting legacy. While it can hardly be viewed as an absolute masterpiece, it is undoubtedly a perversely fitting example of the no brainer, all brawner fast and sweet escapades Walker made his trademark stock in trade.The chances of this breaching it's trade descriptions are as remote as a thousand pound note lying around. It's as loud, brash, noisy and chaotic as the cover promises, but given the limited expectations it sets, it raises itself up that bar by doing it's job in a more pleasing and efficient way than you might expect. Debut feature length director Camille Delamarre manages a tight, engaging pace that never lets up at under an hour and a half, while writer Luc Besson injects the style and veneer he's known for into most of the scenes.His final performance bearing no brunt on it, Walker undeniably displays a mature charisma and panache that was missing from his earlier roles, while RZA is also an effective villain, and between them they forge a good guy/bad guy dynamic reminiscent from the 80s/90s action flicks, before a far flung finale that defies all logic in a none action sequence sense.This is simply so enjoyable and so much fun, a simple, unpretentious short and sweet action fest that doesn't promise anything it can't deliver, and does what's expected in a compact, thrilling and fun way. One of those films that makes you feel the good old days haven't gone away. ****