When Luc Besson is attached to a project (but not directing) it can be good (Taxi), okay (Yamakasi), or painful (Kiss of the Dragon).
Yamakasi is a tale of a group of young men from Paris, all from different backgrounds, who jump off, across, and on buildings for fun. Supposedly, there are french kids who do jump from building to building, but maybe I missed that documentary. The movie kicks into gear when a kid with a heart condition attempts to re-inact a Yamakasi stunt, only to fall and be sent to the hospital. Low and behold, he needs a crazy amount of money for the operation to fix his heart and so the real Yamakasi go into action.
Here we have your standard action fare movie, with the usual (and sometimes baffling) subplots going around. The jumping and flipping is very well done and flows nicely. The French cops are (dumb, old, slow, mean) bit is getting a tad dated as every French police chief in recent French film seems not too far away from the villian.
I managed to catch this one in Paris and I doubt it'll be coming state-side. If you're looking for a couple laughs and some good action, see if you can catch Yamakasi sometime.
Rating: B
Yamakasi is a tale of a group of young men from Paris, all from different backgrounds, who jump off, across, and on buildings for fun. Supposedly, there are french kids who do jump from building to building, but maybe I missed that documentary. The movie kicks into gear when a kid with a heart condition attempts to re-inact a Yamakasi stunt, only to fall and be sent to the hospital. Low and behold, he needs a crazy amount of money for the operation to fix his heart and so the real Yamakasi go into action.
Here we have your standard action fare movie, with the usual (and sometimes baffling) subplots going around. The jumping and flipping is very well done and flows nicely. The French cops are (dumb, old, slow, mean) bit is getting a tad dated as every French police chief in recent French film seems not too far away from the villian.
I managed to catch this one in Paris and I doubt it'll be coming state-side. If you're looking for a couple laughs and some good action, see if you can catch Yamakasi sometime.
Rating: B