If you want over-the-top action sequences, and care very little for actual plot and character arcs, then Brick Mansions is going to be right up your alley.
It’s virtually one continuous Parkour stunt sequence after another – jumping off rooftops and crashing into car-sized windows, jumping off walls into roundhouse kicks to enemies heads, and swinging from fire escape stairways into Olympic-esque flips and twirls: Spiderman himself would get overwhelmed watching this movie. That being said, it’s darn entertaining to watch. It’s also Paul Walker’s final performance before his untimely death, with several eerie sequences of him racing fast cars and crashing into walls to make you completely uncomfortable.
Set in a dystopian futuristic Detroit, Brick Mansions is the story of a once affluent neighbourhood turned desolate and abandoned, ridden with crime, drugs, and poverty. The government has been completely blown out, which has resulted in containment walls being put around the neighbourhood, Brick Mansions.
The movie opens and immediately gives you a taste of what’s to come. Ex-convict and Brick Mansions’ resident wildcard, Lino, is seen throwing cocaine down a bathtub with an angry mob hot on his heels. Then Lino (played by David Belle, who is one of the eight founders of parkour) takes off on the run and scrambles his way across rooftops, walls, and staircases in a wild escape sequence. Lino eventually gets away, but he’s forced to return when Brick Mansions’ unofficial leader, Treamaine Alexander (RZA), kidnaps his girlfriend and holds her hostage.
Enter Paul Walker, who plays Damian Collier, a cop who goes undercover to take down Tremaine and hopefully restore the Brick Mansions neighbourhood. Damian has his own motives; he’s seeking revenge against Tremaine who he believes killed his father years ago.
Mr. Mayor has Damian pair up with Lino to take down Tremaine. While the two are unlikely partners, they work towards their common goal to restore Brick Mansions.
Together the two of them venture right into the belly of the beast and take you on one giant action obstacle course. Heroes become villains, and villains do good, as Damian and Lino head into a world of corruption. There are also plenty of car chases, wild stunts, epic battles that will make you start sweating, and stylized action scenes that give meaning to the word “punch.”
There’s also the “In memory of Paul Walker” tribute right before the end credits that will surely provoke some emotion after such an anti-emotional movie. And the many car chases that have Walker behind the wheel are enough to make you squirm in your seat, it all seems too familiar.
The cheese, the crazy stunts and the opportunity to see Paul Walker up on the screen one last time make Brick Mansions a movie you don’t want to miss.
Brick Mansions opens in theatres across Canada April 25th, 2014.
