The city of Detroit is bankrupt, but in the year 2018 things have gotten even worse than that. One block of land has gotten so bad the city has decided to build a concrete wall in an effort to separate the “bad” from the “good”. Brick Mansions gets its title from this portion of the city where drug dealers, gun runners and pretty much any other variety of lowlife can be found. The Mayor of Detroit, however, has an idea. He wants to level the whole of Brick Mansions with a neutron bomb, killing everyone there and building a new neighborhood atop the ashes. Good guy right?
The Mayor sends in Damien (Paul Walker) an undercover cop with a grudge ever since Brick Mansions kingpin Tremaine (RZA) killed his father years earlier. Damien is to team up with ex-con Lino (David Belle reprising the same role he played in the original French films) under the guise of defusing the bomb and saving the inhabitants of Brick Mansions. The audience knows better, and thus the tension… well, at least, thus the plot.
Like the original French films, District B13 and District B13: Ultimatum, Brick Mansions is silliness personified. As soon as you see a missile strapped with a bomb and then a female captive chained to said missile you’re not sure if you’re watching a Looney Tunes cartoon or a feature film, but for as straight-faced as the actors play it, you can tell we aren’t supposed to take this film too seriously. The more you’re able to look at it for what it is the more likely you are to enjoy it, though it still never rises above its direct-to-video trappings.
As Tremaine, RZA is about as ridiculous as it gets. Our first introduction to him finds him chopping peppers in his villainous lair, complete with fancy, upscale kitchen and his office is just a giant leather chair in the middle of a room, bathed in a red light from above. But just as he’s introducing us to his maniacal plan, Lino quite literally crashes the party, which makes for a good action beat and a quality laugh.
Also like the original, this is Parkour heaven, which makes sense considering Belle is said to be one of the eight creators of the running and jumping, foot transit movement that has become so popular in action films over the last decade. Walker fits into this environment well, but you can see even he is a little slow with some of the moves and you can also see where they were operating with a limited budget as not all stunt effects are cleaned up. A zipline aid used by Belle is clearly visible in one sequence as is a base plate on the bottom of a rolled stunt vehicle. This doesn’t take away from the enjoyment, but it’s a sign of the kind of film we’re talking about here.
Belle and Walker get along well, both embracing the silliness of the scenario such as a fight over a stolen police van, debating how to beat up a giant mongoloid and enjoying a quiet elevator ride. The acting, however, isn’t why you’re showing up and nor should it be the reason.
The action in Brick Mansions is what you’re looking for and in it we’re reminded Paul Walker was never much of a great actor, as much as he has a certain charisma and charm you want to cheer for, making him fun to watch in these kinds of films. At the same time, it’s impossible to ignore his tragic passing as soon as you see him on screen and especially as soon as he sits behind the wheel of a vehicle.
Make no mistake, Brick Mansions is a film that should have gone direct-to-video or at least shared an On Demand day-and-date theatrical release, but every now and then one slips through and it’s one of those mildly enjoyable bad movies. The entire audience (or at least my screening audience) realizes this, laughs with it, enjoys when a corrupt cop gets his neck snapped in a bit of a surprising way and laughs as RZA is seen for a second time chopping peppers. Mu hu ha ha haaa.
It’s ridiculous and it knows it. Knowing it’s bad, however, doesn’t make it good, it just makes enjoying it a little easier. As far as whether it’s worth a trip to the theater? Maybe a matinee… maybe, but that’s as far as I can go.
