Why anyone thought they needed to remake 2004’s District B13 is beyond me. I guess Luc Besson found a few days to churn this out for someone who had a few bucks to spend. They reeled in Paul Walker as the lead and invited David Belle back for another round (there was a sequel in 2009).

Brick Mansions takes place in Detroit. A large slum has been walled off from the rest of the city where crime runs rampant. An undercover cop (Paul Walker) gets help from an ex-con (David Belle) to try and stop a crime lord’s plan to level downtown Detroit. District B13 is most notable for introducing the world to parkour. David Belle is one of the pioneers of the sport and the free running stunts and choreography gave action fans something new and exciting to watch. The same is on display here with Belle strutting his stuff, something I’m sure Jackie Chan is impressed with.

If you’ve never seen DB13, then what’s here could seem pretty fresh to you. It’s an average action movie in general and RZA being cast as the main villain doesn’t do the movie any favors. While not his worse performance, RZA isn’t a good actor so there’s not a big well of praise to dip into for him. There’s some great stunt work and fight choreography here and there but there’s not much else to raise this movie to its above average status.