This is a film that clarifies the line between what you like or enjoy and what is good filmmaking.I liked it. I enjoyed it. Was it a great examination of the human condition? Oh no. Was it coherent? Sometimes not. Was it silly at times? Yes.But if you subdivide it, some of it was quite good.This is yet another example of how I think that American filmmakers just can't shoot a good action movie anymore. I'm in the US, so I can talk. The fights and action were vivid, clear and concise. Not a jumble of hand-held shots that I can't make out.Story-wise it was straight forward. The poor manipulated and attacked by the rich. Then the poor fight back. The only caveat is that the "poor" were depicted as drug dealers. Then, in the end, I don't think they were. Thus, poor as drug dealers made me much less invested during the film.No character development but I wasn't expecting such. I was sold a bromance and that was okay.You see a movie like this for the entertainment value. The fights and a tone that says "this is cool". And it was. Consistently very good fights. And like the first movie, the parquar (parquat?-parquin?-who knows?) was really great.Even when I am compartmentalizing my criteria like this, I am still put-off but my cartoon heroes being reckless. There is a scene where the heroes drive a little car into a building and then out the window. It looks great but am bothered how reckless our supposed heroes are when they don't think that an innocent person might be hurt by what they are doing. But I don't think the audience for this is thinking the same thing.

I was a bit disappointed with B13 Ultimatum, and I'm judging it against the first installment of B 13. I expected it to be on par if not better than the original but I found it slower, flatter and far less dynamic. Somewhat similar to Matrix and Matrix Reloaded, the 1st being fresh and dynamic and the 2nd being more polished and elaborate, though I thought the latter was still very good. B13 Ultimatum is plagued by some bad scripting and cartoonish and ridiculous characters - like the face-tattooed Tao - and lost credibility as the film progresses, becoming a mediocre Hollywood action flick. One detail that I found amusing and ridiculous was the amount of gun-less cops that were mowed over by the two protagonists, yet when they did use guns, the shower of bullets seemed useless against the seemingly bullet-proof little Citroen or Renault get-away car.. Hollywood, eat your heart out.

The French Secret Service and government get together to plan away of getting rid of the multi-racial crime ridden ghetto of District 13 in order to build homes for the middle class and make sure that no one gets in way of their plan Luc Besson is very much a hero or villain to the French . He can be seen as betraying French cinema or as someone who has brought French films to an international audience . His input to DISTRICT 13 ULTIMATUIM is very small , just writing the basic scenario but all the hallmarks of the visual look of Besson , one of intensified continuity are there For those who are unaware of the term " intensified continuity " it's a type of sharp in your face editing/ directorial style . This makes ULTIMATUIM similar to many other films associated with Besson especially during the action sequences . It also makes it more accessible to a mainstream audience brought up on Hollywood movies . To the French there can be more greater act of treason than emulating Hollywood but this can be forgiven when you've got a film more enjoyable than anything Michael Bay can direct If there's a downside to the movie its set pieces are the selling point and the whole narrative is written around the action scenes . This is a pity because the conspiracy plot did seem realistic to a degree and could have been developed a bit more . You do get a feeling that the conspiracy should linger in the audiences memory where as in reality you'll have forgotten most of the film's more intriguing points as soon as the end titles come up up That said it's a far more entertaining film than the French ones I remember watching on BBC 2 on a Saturday night all those years ago . You know the ones I mean - a bunch of French people standing around in a garden discussing the human condition

It was not up to the standard to the first film. I still liked some fight scenes. I saw the deleted and extended scenes on the DVD, and it was basically 9 min of fight footage that was not used. Which i think was too bad. I think most of them should have been included in the film. I feel they could have improved the film a bit. Poor decision in my opinion. I think it had some great new moves from Raffaelli and Belle. In my opinion is these the reasons for it: worse editing in the fights, shaky camera, too little Parkour, too little fights for Belle, some poor camera angles and too little screen time for Belle If they make a third film, which i think they will do. They should have learned the mistakes i mentioned from this film. I hope they can find an even balance between the fights and Parkour scenes. They would be perfect.