(Editor's note: This film, "District B13," was originally scheduled to be shown at Regal Cinema's Crocker Park Stadium 16 beginning July 21 but has been taken off the schedule. It is currently playing at Cedar Lee Theaters, 2163 Lee Road, in Cleveland Heights. The film is scheduled to be released on DVD Sept. 5.)

With minimal car chases, zero explosions and artful direction “District B13” is the antithesis of the modern American action film. But among a summer full of movie duds, this French film explodes onto the screen, leaving the audience wide-eyed and wanting more.

The year is 2010. The government in Paris walls off ghetto cities, abandons the schools, post offices and government buildings and what happens inside, stays inside. B-13 is a hopeless, apocalyptic hell ruled by gangs. Leito (David Belle) is the vigilante resident who spends his life trying to thwart the district’s local gang leader, Taha (Bibi Naceri.)

The danger involved is just a game to Leito until Taha abducts and abuses his feisty sister, Lola (Dany Verissimo.) Leito teams up with super-cop Damien (Cyril Raffaelli) to get Lola back. The film moves at a breakneck speed and so do its actors.

Top: David Belle stars as Leito and Dany Verissimo as Lola. Bottom: Tony D’Amario plays gang member K2.

Raffaelli, a Chinese boxing champion, actor, acrobat and stuntman choreographed his own footwork and fight scenes. When he teams with Belle, who is an athlete in his own right, the pair’s movements are seamless and fluid. Together, the two designed some of the movie’s most spectacular scenes.

“What you see on scene is 90 percent real with no special effects,” Raffaelli said.

In real life, Belle, along with Sebastien Foucan, created parkour, also known as free running. It’s a fusion of sport, philosophy and art, and Belle commands the film with his expertise in the exercise, using moves such as the cat leap, monkey vault and tic-tac. Practitioners such as Belle are called traceurs. These acrobats scale walls, run across rooftops and leap from one building to another — the spidermen and women of the 21st century. Belle describes the training for the sport as a melting pot of gymnastics, trekking, rock climbing, martial arts and overall athleticism.

“Everything which can be considered an obstacle is part of my art,” Belle said. The obstacles and the art abound in District B-13 and beat any car chase ever filmed.

Luc Besson, of Fifth Element fame, wrote the script while longtime camera operator and photography director Pierre Morel made his first move into the director’s chair for the film.

If there was ever a movie made for the big screen, this is the one.

(Now showing at Cedar Lee Theaters in Cleveland Heights.)

On the Web:

• Magnolia Pictures
• District B-13 — Official Web site
• Cedar Lee Theaters
• Regal Cinema — Crocker Park Stadium 16