{"id":14124,"date":"2014-04-25T11:00:48","date_gmt":"2014-04-25T18:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qgp.ykq.mybluehost.me\/cinephiled\/?p=14124"},"modified":"2014-04-25T11:01:31","modified_gmt":"2014-04-25T18:01:31","slug":"review-brick-mansions-knows-satisfies-target-audience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinephiled.com\/review-brick-mansions-knows-satisfies-target-audience\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: ‘Brick Mansions’ Knows, and Satisfies, Its Target Audience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Walker died Nov.30, as a result of a tragic auto accident in which he was the passenger, not the driver. At the time of his death, shooting had just begun on Fast & Furious 7<\/em>, and obviously, he was unable to finish his work on the movie. (It\u2019s still unclear exactly how much of a role Walker\u2019s character, will wind up playing in the eventual, still-to-be-completed film, or even how the filmmakers will fill his part \u2013 if they really do so.) So Brick Mansion<\/em>s, a film he shot several months before the fatal auto mishap, actually wound up becoming the well-liked actor\u2019s final big-screen film. Frankly, there are a lot of actors who have a lot of worse \u201clast films\u201d on their credits. It\u2019s a more than passable remake of District B13<\/em>, a French action-thriller from 2004 that helped popularize the sport of Parkour (also described as \u201curban gymnastics\u201d by some). This film reunites screenwriter\/producer Luc Besson and writing partner Bibi Naceri (who penned the original), as well as one of the earlier movie\u2019s stars, David Belle. Credited as being one of Parkour\u2019s originators, Belle also reprises the same role he played in that film, and adds some athleticism and grittiness where and when needed here. But even with Belle and Besson adding some \u201clegitimacy\u201d to the English-language re-do, this is still Walker\u2019s show, and if nothing else, he shows he was a credible action performer. He stars as Damien Collier, a Detroit undercover cop who hopes to take down Tremaine (rapper-turned-actor RZA), a criminal mastermind who has deadly plans for the city slums he helps operate. To stop the drug lord once and for all, Damien will have to join forces with Lino (Belle), an ex-con who has his own reasons for wanting vengeance on Tremaine. (He\u2019s kidnapped Lino\u2019s ex-girlfriend, Lola, played by Catalina Denis.) For this uneasy partnership to work, the duo must first penetrate the containment wall that separates the rest of Detroit from the \u201cbrick mansions\u201d that house Tremaine and his criminal enterprises, and then convince Tremaine they\u2019re looking for \u201cwork.\u201d Further complicating things: They\u2019ve got only hours to stop their quarry from levelling much of the city. The trapped-behind-enemy-lines story line may remind some of both the first Raid<\/em> movie (2011\u2019s Redemption<\/em>), as well as Dredd<\/em> (2012). And like the original, the plot only gets more ridiculous as it progresses. However, this version does remove some of the more ludicrous, science fiction-y elements and instead concentrates even more on the action, which is a good thing. Director Camille Delamarre (a Besson prot\u00e9g\u00e9) adopts some of the style of his mentor, and allowed Belle to coordinate the Parkour action, which not only replicates some of the more jawdropping stunts from the original, but creates a few new ones that will satisfy those who came for the action. You know, the audience this film is clearly trying to please. And listen, Walker knew his stuff when it came to martial arts, having studied Taekwondo, Jeet Kune Do and other forms. He shows some serious moves here, and cinematographer Christophe Collette helps make it clear that it\u2019s actually Walker who\u2019s performing a lot of his character\u2019s stunts and action. As for Belle\u2019s less-physical performance elements \u2026 well, you have to understand that English is not his first language. And yes, some of RZA\u2019s line readings do leave something to be desired. Again, though, audiences who see the movie aren\u2019t there for dialogue, and thankfully, the film does keep it to as much of a minimum as possible. (Though, like the original, its more expository elements are so silly that they may garner some guilty giggles.)<\/em> Jeff Michael Vice can also be read reviewing comics and television for Big Shiny Robot! (<\/em>www.bigshinyrobot.com<\/a>), be heard reviewing films, television programs, comics, books, music and other things as part of The Geek Show Podcast (<\/em>www.thegeekshowpodcast.com<\/a>), and be seen reviewing films as part of Xfinity\u2019s Big Movie Mouth-Off (<\/em>www.facebook.com\/BigMovieMouthOff<\/em><\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul Walker died Nov.30, as a result of a tragic auto accident in which he was the passenger, not the driver. At the time of his death, shooting had just begun on Fast & Furious 7, and obviously, he was unable to finish his work on the movie. (It\u2019s still unclear exactly how much of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":14126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,99],"tags":[8,1779,1412,1778,1777,636,270,1780,230,1585],"yoast_head":"\nReview: 'Brick Mansions' Knows, and Satisfies, Its Target Audience - Cinephiled<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cinephiled.com\/review-brick-mansions-knows-satisfies-target-audience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: 'Brick Mansions' Knows, and Satisfies, Its Target Audience - Cinephiled\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Paul Walker died Nov.30, as a result of a tragic auto accident in which he was the passenger, not the driver. At the time of his death, shooting had just begun on Fast & Furious 7, and obviously, he was unable to finish his work on the movie. 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