Brick Mansions

There is no other way I could think of starting this review than to pay homage to Paul Walker who left us on 30^th November 2013.  A sad day for cinema in general and more so for fast paced action cinema through which he shot to fame.  Unfortunately, he could not finish shooting for his last movie Fast & Furious 7.  We shall all miss you Paul Walker.

While a fitting finale would have been FF7, Brick Mansions does get close.  Somewhere in the future, the abandoned brick mansions in the city of Detroit have turned into a safe haven for the most dangerous criminals.  To protect the city, the Mayor (Bruce Ramsay) orders a massive wall to be built around this section.  Predictably, the section is called Brick Mansions and no one cares about who stays there anymore.

In the city, Lt. Damien Collier (Paul Walker) is rated as one of the best undercover cops with Detroit Police.  His latest achievement comes in the form of George the Greek (Carlo Rota) – one of the most sought after drug lords in the city.  His next assignment would be to recover a Neutron Bomb that has been stolen by gangster Tremaine (RZA) who runs pretty much everything in Brick Mansions today.

Two things that are quite good with Brick Mansions.  The first part would be the editing.  The movie is kept to a crisp 90 minutes and when you do your research, the answer lies in the fact that debut director Camille Delamarre has edited 6 full length features such as Lockout, Transporter 3 and Taken 2.  So if you pick a full bucket of popcorn, it will last you through the movie – damn good I say.

The second aspect is the action.  Great chase sequences combined with some superb Parkour (free running) make Brick Mansions a thrill a minute ride.  Collier’s partner to recover the neutron bomb is a conman from Brick Mansions called Lino (David Belle) who is like a loose cannon that no one can catch. He manages to make the most difficult of runs look like a walk in the park.

Of course, with the good, there will be some bad.  The dialogue is quite crappy – but that is something you have come to expect from fast paced action movies.  The acting isn’t a cut above the rest – in fact it is quite bad.  The women are nothing but eye candy (but great eye candy).  In all, Brick Mansions is your slightly above average action flick.  6 on 10.  Watch on screen if you can – not really mandatory – but watch for Paul Walker.

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2807081497/?ref_=tt_ov_vi