n his directorial debut, Luc Besson protégé director Pierre Morel plunges us into recognizable bandit territory with his hysterically hyperactive “District B13.” While there is nothing terribly original about the storyline, this urban-warfare tale is set in the ghettos of Paris - as opposed to those in New York or Los Angeles - and helped along with a heavy dose of industrial-strength techno.

This Parisian action adventure focuses its spotlight on the cutting-edge skill called parkour, which combines speed and acrobatics, vaulting over, under and around city structures to achieve a fluent forward motion. Set in 2010, the movie has parkour pioneer David Belle portraying Leïto, who, along with elite police member Damien (Cyril Raffaelli), must find and disarm a bomb that could wipe out two million people.

This bomb, which is set to explode in a few hours, seems to be the property of excitable drug lord Taha (Larbi Naceri, who also co-wrote the script with Besson). It all takes place in a concrete wasteland within Paris, under the tight control of Taha, where they've tried to contain all the criminals and low-life elements. For these District B13 residents, crime is rampant, and life is littered with drugs, guns and gangs.

The film opens with Taha's heavily armed thugs in pursuit of Leito (Belle), who has stolen over 20 keys of brown heroin. But not for intent to sell or a fix - he destroys the junk before it gets distributed to the residents in the projects. The henchmen come for him, naturally, so he's up and running, scampering up the sides of walls, down hallways and out over Parisian rooftops.