Brick Mansions

Man oh man talk about a missed opportunity. In more ways than one too.

This review will be a short one as there isn't much to say about this film.

Brick Mansions is a remake of some other action film (of which I haven't really done any research on) that is focused on parkour stunts. It features the late Paul Walker in one of his last starring roles, Wu-Tang clan rapper, RZA, and parkour pioneer David Belle.

Now, given that this is one of Walker's final performances I'm sure it will give some interest to an otherwise forgotten film, but unfortunately it doesn't deserve your time or money unless you are really, really into parkour.

My gut feeling was that this film would be like another Takers. Many of you may not have seen that film...it also starred Walker, Chris Brown, T.I., Terrence Howard, Idris Elba, etc. Critics somewhat bashed it but I really liked it. It's plot was simple but the action and the characters were well done. It was one of those films that you pop in if its raining outside, you have nothing better to do, and you want to have a good time. Or one of those that you catch on T.V. some day and once it's done you think, "That was a pretty cool movie!".

Brick Mansions is not that.

Someone get him a cheeseburger! Quick!

That awkward moment where Walker is the best
actor in the room...

For the first 15 minutes of Brick Mansions I was hooked. I went in with a rather positive outlook based on the kinetic trailers from the past few months and the film's best parkour sequence is during this time and it's actually quite stunning. Brick Mansions is set in a future Detroit where there is a walled-off part of the city referred to as Brick Mansions, where the poorest of the poor and most violent people live. The rich of Detroit are trying to use the space to build a new city structure that will put Detroit on the map. Brick Mansions is run by self-appointed leader, Tremaine who is the head of the snake in the drug syndicate within Detroit. RZA actually isn't as terrible as he usually is (see the last GI Joe or The Man with the Iron Fists if you want some laughable acting) and I was surprised by his growth as an actor. Paul Walker has never been the best actor in the world, but he does about as well as you would expect here. Newcomer David Belle has some stiff delivery and there is something weird with the audio in his lines...like they recorded them in a booth after the scene was shot or something. It's really odd. All the meathead thugs do about as badly as you would expect and are cookie cutter versions of each other and thugs we have seen before. To say that the movie is average so far would be an understatement. Even the action, the part that I thought would save the film a little bit, is boring as all hell. The parkour moves are rinsed and repeated half a dozen times and other than the first, highly inventive chase scene, everything here seems like the director watched some YouTube parkour videos and said, "Hey can you do that while you fight?". Especially after having seen the glorious fight choreography of The Raid 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier just mere weeks ago made the action in Brick Mansions all the more yawn-inducing.

And then Brick Mansions tries to get preachy and that's where things really went south for me. It wasn't the stale acting (with the exception of Walker). It wasn't the disappointing action. It wasn't the clichéd story or the bomb attached to a Russian missile pointed at Detroit (spoiler warning?). It was the absolutely ludicrous result of it all. I wish I could break my no spoiler rule for just this time, but it's a rule I respect and I wont do that to anyone who wants to see the film. But I will say this: the leader of the city's biggest drug ring has absolutely no right whatsoever to provide social commentary about how the world isn't giving people inside Brick Mansions a chance. YOUR HARDCORE DRUGS ARE DOING THAT YOU IDIOT! Some of the things RZA's character says are so hypocritical its laughable. Oh the schools or hospitals are no longer open in Brick Mansions? Why don't you stop buying super fly suits and use that drug money to reopen them dips**t?

It's cool the first time. But not really the second, third, fourth, or
fifth time it happens

I'm harsh on Brick Mansions because it should have been something more. Walker deserved better than this and the sport of parkour deserved better. But instead Brick Mansions hardly tries anything inventive other than social commentary. And with that it resembles a parkour artist falling flat on their face.

Brick Mansions is just not worth your time. If you want to see parkour, look up some YouTube videos and they will be cooler. If you want to see Paul Walker, watch any of his other, better films. And if you want a film that you can sit down, enjoy, and forget while you pass the time, skip this and rent Takers.

CONS:

• A let down in several avenues. Walker deserved better than this and hopefully we all forget this film by the time Fast and Furious 7 debuts (which I'm sure we will). Additionally, the sport of parkour deserves better than this. When a James Bond film from 2006 has a better parkour sequence than an entire film featuring it's main celebrity, you know you did a poor job
• Some pretty laughable acting all around. Out of the main trio, Belle fares worst, mainly because of the odd audio issues they were having with his voice
• I knew the plot would be dumb going in, but this dumb? I wasn't prepared for it
• The action, despite what the trailers may have you believe, is boring, unoriginal, and *most of the time* uses the parkour angle poorly or repetitively
• The film's attempt at social commentary was already idiotic. But then to give the social commentary dialogue to the drug lord who is a direct influencer of the poverty and violence in Brick Mansions? As Will Ferrell stated so eloquently in Zoolander, "I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!!"

PROS:

• RZA's acting shows some improvement from previous efforts and Paul Walker holds his own, though its far from his best role. His fighting skills are impressive and its nice to see him out from behind the wheel for once
• The first parkour chase scene is fantastic. It's thrilling, inventive, funny, and shows off the sport the way it was meant to be seen

Rath's Review Score: 4/10