This is literally one of the best action sequences I have ever seen in my life.
It looks real. So real that I literally gasped out loud a couple of times. It has breathtaking stunts. But it seems like they are being done by real bodies in real time - only a couple of slo-mo moments - everything else seems gritty and as though it actually could happen - it also goes on forever. Phenomenal. CHECK IT OUT.
(via James Lileks who makes the great point that a lot of the success of this clip is in the editing. Absolutely true.)
Posted by sheilaHoly Crap! That was excellent. I want to know who the lead is and why he isn't playing Spiderman.
Posted by: Cullen at February 23, 2006 11:16 AMIsn't he incredible?
Posted by: red at February 23, 2006 11:17 AMMore of this might be real than you suspect. I saw a special on PBS, or National Geographic, or somewhere about a group of guys who run and perform on architechture like that. They plot out a lot of their routes, but some of the "art" of it is in the spontaneous reaction to jumps, walls, balconies, etc. It was really quite amazing, and ended with one guy leaping off the control tower of a Naval ship, down to the deck below. It flirted with being superhuman, and was very similiar to a lot of the stunts on this clip. There was a "guru" of the practice who was teaching a group of disciples. Wild stuff.
Posted by: DBW at February 23, 2006 12:23 PMIncredible!! There's an odd frenetic grace to the whole thing - that lead guy just throws himself into the air - I love when he jumps over the bannisters of the stairways as he goes down.
Posted by: red at February 23, 2006 12:27 PMIs this a sequence from a longer movie? No apparent clue from Lileks or the video site.
There was a similar chase scene from Crimson Rivers 2, about halfway through when the young cop chases the monk. That scene and Jean Reno make the movie worthwhile.
Posted by: Scotter at February 23, 2006 12:56 PMScotter - I can't tell either. It seems like - from that first scene with the peephole - that it is from a longer movie.
Posted by: red at February 23, 2006 1:34 PMasskickery of the highest order.
Posted by: beth at February 23, 2006 2:05 PMLe Parkour, is what I'm told it is.
Also known as Free Running on other pages.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkour
http://www.anoasis.co.uk/archives/000271.html
His name is David Belle.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1939106.stm
It's apparently quite the sensation in Europe, and there are some lunatics practiving in Virginia, as well.
Here's another site that has things on Parkour.
http://www.screwgravity.com/videos/index.shtml
I'm trying to find the original video that I saw of this sort of thing, but a more widely known representation of Free Running is seen in a fairly recent Scion commercial.
Posted by: Wutzizname at February 23, 2006 2:11 PMomg! so incredibly AWESOME!
Posted by: amelie at February 23, 2006 3:37 PMwutzizname rules.
I've been trying to find out what movie this is from for months. Amazon.fr, here I come...
I also cringe at how long it must have taken to shoot. SO many camera setups.
It's fantastic.
Posted by: Alex Nunez at February 23, 2006 3:46 PMGuys,
The scene is actually from Banlieue 13:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414852/
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2687054?htv=12
Available here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CSDFI4/qid=1140728043/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-5254065-8152740?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=130
Posted by: Alex Nunez at February 23, 2006 3:54 PMGlad to be of service ;)
Fortunately, my coworkers and I specialize in obscure trivial whatnot, and we stumble across a lot of things. We found this dude in another video where he performed equally as astounding stuff. It showed how he brought it from the countryside, into the urban environment. There were three incredible shots:
Jumping over a car
Running down a canyon wall
and
Jumping from a rooftop DIAGONALLY across an intersection to a lower rooftop.
He and Tony Jaa need to get together and do a RIDICULOUS action film. It'd make Millions.
I'm still looking for one film called 'The Stuntmen' by the way. If I find something, I'll let Red know, or ping this comment thread again.
Respek.
-W
Posted by: Wutzizname at February 23, 2006 3:55 PMBanlieue 13, FYI, is a Region 3, PAL DVD, so to watch it, you need a multiregion, multiformat player.
If you have one, buy it from HKFlix.com:
http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.535158/qx/details.htm
They're out of Hawaii and are totally on the level. I've bought a bunch of stuff from them in the past.
Posted by: Alex Nunez at February 23, 2006 3:58 PMThat is BRILLIANT. I've had nightmares like that. Throughout the whole thing I kept saying, "There's no freaking way these guys could keep up with this maniac", and there they are right behind him. Sort of like a modern day Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid..."Who are those guys?!" When he goes through that little window at the top of the door, bare backed no less, holy shit!
I just ordered a copy. I'll post a review in a week or so after it finds its way to my house.
Posted by: Alex Nunez at February 23, 2006 4:09 PMDavid - yeah, that stunt blew me away. I like how he keeps his body tucked and motionless when he falls - like a little chimp, or a circus artist - It seems like he could just keep falling, right - and still land on his feet???
Posted by: red at February 23, 2006 4:38 PMif Mitchell got into the circus 20 years ago he'd be that guy right now!
Posted by: David at February 23, 2006 4:42 PMThe guy reminded me of Mitchell a little bit - the way he moves.
Posted by: red at February 23, 2006 4:56 PMThere are a bunch of parkour videos on the web, like this one, and apparently 387 more.
Posted by: dorkafork at February 23, 2006 10:04 PMFound it.
I finally got to it on Ifilm.
http://www.ifilm.com/viralvideo/collection/parkour
The first one I ever saw was this one:
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2685124
Posted by: Wutzizname at February 24, 2006 7:51 AM