Brick Mansions

Brick Mansions is a 2014 English-language French-Canadian crime-thriller film starring Paul Walker, David Belle and RZA. The film was directed by Camille Delamarre and written by Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen and Bibi Naceri. It is a remake of the 2004 French film District 13, in which Belle had also starred.^[4][5]

Brick Mansions was released on April 25, 2014, five months after Paul Walker's death on November 30, 2013 and has a dedication to him at the start of the credits. This is Walker's last completed film before his death but not his last film appearance. At the time of his death, he was almost done filming Furious 7 which was released on April 3, 2015.^[6]

Plot

In 2018, in a dystopian Detroit, abandoned brick mansions left from better times now house only the most dangerous criminals. Unable to control the crime, the police have constructed a colossal containment wall around this area to protect the rest of the city. For undercover cop Damien Collier (Paul Walker), every day is a battle against corruption. For French-Caribbean ex-convict Lino (David Belle), every day is a fight to live an honest life. Their paths never should have crossed, but when drug kingpin Tremaine Alexander (RZA) kidnaps Lino's girlfriend, Damien reluctantly accepts Lino's help and together they struggle to stop a sinister plot that involves a stolen bomb set to destroy the entire city.

Eventually, with the help of Lino and Tremaine, Damien realizes that his father was killed by his fellow officers and that the mayor was behind the plot. Damien, Leïto and Tremaine confront the mayor and manage to prove his true intentions and have him arrested. Brick Mansions is welcomed back into the city, with Damien and Lino continuing their friendship.

Cast

• Paul Walker as Damien Collier
• David Belle as Lino Dupree
• RZA as Tremaine Alexander
• Catalina Denis as Lola
• Robert Maillet as Yeti
• Carlo Rota as George the Greek
• Kwasi Songui as Big Cecil
• Bruce Ramsay as Mayor
• Ayisha Issa as Rayzah
• Richard Zeman as Reno
• Gouchy Boy as K2

Production

Principal photography began on April 30, 2013, and the film was released in 2014 by EuropaCorp. Relativity Media distributed the film.^[4] Following Walker's death, the North American release was scheduled for February and French release for April 23.^[5][7] On February 6 2014, Relativity and EuropaCorp announced a move to April 25, 2014 as a release date for the film, along with paying the cost of the film’s world premiere and distribution.^[8]

Release

The first official trailer was released on February 13, 2014, featuring the DJ Snake and Lil Jon song "Turn Down for What".^[9] The second full trailer was released on March 20, 2014.^[10]

Reception

Reviews for Brick Mansions have been generally negative. Rotten Tomatoes gives a 26% rating based on 88 reviews. The site's consensus states, "Choppily edited and largely bereft of plot, Brick Mansions wastes a likable cast on a pointless remake of the far more entertaining District 13."^[11] Metacritic gives the film a 40/100 rating, based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[12] However, some critics have been more positive. Isaac Feldberg of We Got This Covered called the film "a highly entertaining action thriller". He also remarked, "If Brick Mansions is to serve as his [Paul Walker's] final work, it's relieving, at least, to know that it's his best, and an appropriately sensational capstone to a career built on pulse-pounding, jaw-dropping action spectaculars." Variety's Justin Chang added that the film was "propulsively entertaining."

See also

• District 13: Ultimatum – sequel to the original (District 13). The film, directed by Patrick Alessandrin and written and produced by Luc Besson (who also wrote and produced the first film), sees parkour artists David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli reprising their original roles of Leïto and Damien.^[13]

References

External links

• Brick Mansions at the Internet Movie Database
• Brick Mansions at Box Office Mojo
• Brick Mansions at Rotten Tomatoes
• Brick Mansions at Metacritic