Brick Mansions

Brick Mansions is a 2014 English-language French-Canadian crime-thriller film starring Paul Walker, David Belle and RZA. The film was directed by Camille Delamarre and written by Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen and Bibi Naceri. It is a remake of the 2004 French film District 13, in which Belle had also starred.

Brick Mansions was released on April 25, 2014, five months after Paul Walker's death on November 30, 2013 and has a dedication to him at the start of the credits. This is Walker's last completed film before his death but not his last film appearance. At the time of his death, he was almost done filming Furious 7 which was released on April 3, 2015.

Plot

In 2018, in a dystopian Detroit, abandoned brick mansions left from better times now house only the most dangerous criminals. Unable to control the crime, the police have constructed a colossal containment wall around this area to protect the rest of the city. For undercover cop Damien Collier (Paul Walker), every day is a battle against corruption. For ex-convict Lino (David Belle), every day is a fight to live an honest life. Their paths never should have crossed, but when drug kingpin Tremaine (RZA) kidnaps Lino’s girlfriend, Damien reluctantly accepts Lino's help and together they struggle to stop a sinister plot that involves a stolen bomb set to destroy the entire city.

Paul Walker

Paul William Walker IV (September 12, 1973 – November 30, 2013) was an American actor. Walker began his career guest-starring in several television shows such as The Young and the Restless and Touched by an Angel. Walker gained prominence with breakout roles in coming-of-age and teen films such as She's All That and Varsity Blues. In 2001, Walker gained international fame for his portrayal of Brian O'Conner in the street racing action film The Fast and the Furious, and would reprise the role in five of the next six installments. He also starred in films such as Eight Below, Timeline, Into the Blue, Joy Ride and Running Scared.

Besides acting, Walker was the face of The Coty Prestige fragrance brand Davidoff Cool Water for Men, and starred in the National Geographic Channel series, Expedition Great White. He also founded the charity "Reach Out Worldwide" (ROWW), an organization providing relief efforts for areas affected by natural disasters. He was often praised for his off-screen charity work, and as a performer.

Brick

A brick is building material used to make walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Traditionally, the term brick referred to unit composed of clay, but it is now used to denote any rectangular units laid in mortar. A brick can be composed of clay-bearing soil, sand and lime, or concrete materials. Bricks are produced in numerous classes, types, materials, and sizes which vary with region and time period, and are produced in bulk quantities. Two basic categories of bricks are fired and non-fired bricks.

Block is a similar term referring to a rectangular building unit composed of similar materials, but is usually larger than a brick. Lightweight bricks (also called "lightweight blocks") are made from expanded clay aggregate.

Fired bricks are one of the longest-lasting and strongest building materials, sometimes referred to as artificial stone, and have been used since circa 5000 BC. Air-dried bricks, also known as mudbricks, have a history older than fired bricks, and have an additional ingredient of a mechanical binder such as straw.

David Belle

David Belle (born 29 April 1973) is a French actor, film choreographer and stunt coordinator. He is deemed the founder or leading pioneer of the physical discipline parkour, coining it based on his training and the teachings from his father Raymond Belle. Belle came to fame via his parkour videos and film appearances, such as District 13, District 13: Ultimatum, which were written and produced by Luc Besson, and the American remake Brick Mansions. Belle has also consulted on the making of Babylon A.D., Prince of Persia, Colombiana and The Family.

Life and career

Belle was born and raised in Fécamp, France, the son of Monique and Raymond Belle, in a modest family in the suburbs of Paris. His grandfather Gilbert Kitten, father Raymond, and brother Jean-François Belle have been highly skilled rescuers in the Military Paris Fire Brigade.

In 1984, at the age of 11, Belle moved to Lisses, France. He made close friends with a group of teenagers with similar physical passions who began training with him. Some of the friends that trained with David would later become known as the Yamakasi. Later in life Belle spent time in the military and fire brigade with aspirations of following in his father's and grandfather's footsteps. He left soon after for personal reasons in order to dedicate himself to parkour.

Mansion

A mansion is a large dwelling house.

The word itself derives (through Old French) from the Latin word mansio "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb manere "to dwell". The English word "manse" originally defined a property large enough for the parish priest to maintain himself, but a mansion is no longer self-sustaining in this way (compare a Roman or medieval villa). 'Manor' comes from the same root—territorial holdings granted to a lord who would remain there—hence it is easy to see how the word 'Mansion' came to have its meaning.

History

Within an ancient Roman city, patrician dwellings might be very extensive, and luxurious. Such mansions on one hill in Rome became so extensive that the term palatial was actually derived from the name Palatine hill and is the etymological origin of "palace".

Following the fall of Rome the practice of building unfortified villas ceased. Today, the oldest inhabited mansions around the world usually began their existence as fortified castles in the middle ages. As social conditions slowly changed and stabilised fortifications were able to be reduced, and over the centuries gave way to comfort. It became fashionable and possible for homes to be beautiful rather than grim and forbidding allowing for the development of the modern mansion.