Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Two years have passed since elite police officer Damien Tomasso teamed up with reformed vigilante Leito to save the notorious District 13, a racially charged ghetto populated by violent drug dealing gangs and vicious killers. Despite government promises to maintain order, the state of the district has deteriorated, and a group of corrupt cops and elected officials are conspiring to cause civil unrest in D13, looking for an excuse to raze the area and cash in on its redevelopment. Now Damian and Leito must join forces again, and use their mastery of martial arts and their unique physical skills to bring peace to the neighborhood by any means necessary... before a proposed nuclear air-strike wipes it off the map.

Luc Besson has been pretty busy with these smaller films creating some great characters and producing. This is the follow up to the surprisingly fun District B-13 that featured some of the best action choreography I’d seen in awhile. It was also my introduction to Parkour, which is a type of free running that is become very popular. This sequel features the same stars and actually amps up the action. The story is better, the production slicker and the stunts even more intense. Both Belle and Raffaelli really light up the screen and I’m surprised we haven’t seen these two hit the U.S. action scene yet.

Gorgeous in a word. I’ve actually owned the UK release of this film for the better part of a year now and I’m happy to report that the gorgeous transfer remains intact. This film features some of the sharpest detail I’ve seen on the format and the level of depth and dimension is nearly without equal. The soundtrack is also quite aggressive with incredible low end depth and surround use. One of the best presentations of the year so far.

Extras include an inside look into the making of the film, including interviews with the actors and production crew. You also get some deleted scenes, a music video and an HDNet feature on the film.

Magnet scores big points with a near flawless presentation that manages to avoid the language and subtitle bumps that seems to plague so many of their releases. Action film fans should definitely give this one a look.