Brick Mansions / Rated PG-13 for drugs, violence, dirt everywhere, and sexual menace (not done by someone named Dennis)

Actor Paul Walker died in a fiery car crash on November 30th of last year when leaving an event in Valencia, CA (near the Magic Mountain theme park). Apparently the driver of the Porsche he was leaving the event with hit speeds above 100MPH on Valencia city streets before encountering a tree which refused to give way. PW was a big star primarily because of a series of high speed car chase films, all of which had the term Fast and Furious in the title. PW was 40.

The latest version in the Fast and Furious series with Paul was in the works. The last film PW finished was Brick Mansions. BM (it means Brick Mansions not the other thing you are thinking) was a violent pot boiler full of high speed car chases, violent fights, suggestions of a drug business, bad guys on both sides of the law and Cirque de Soleil style acrobatics.

The film itself is a remake of a film from 2004 titled District B-13. In DB-13 one of the two most important characters, the one other than PW, was played by actor/acrobat David Belle. He recreates his role from DB13 in BM. He even does everything acrobatic the character did in that film. As far as I can tell. If you have not seen DB13or BM, David is a specialist in chases and escapes over, under and around all obstacles. In the opening scene of the Daniel Craig version of Casino Royale (2006) the exact same chase is done with James Bond pursuing a well coordinated bad guy.

The title, Brick Mansions, is based on the idea that Detroit, MI in 2018 has been so over-run with crime that the worst area has been walled in. All the bad guys live inside. In DB13 it was Paris 2010 that had the super bad area. Well one thing leads to another and it turns out a neutron bomb has fallen into the hands of the bad guys inside the brick mansions. PW and DB (who is trying to save his girlfriend) must gain entrance to the bad guys City of Oz and defuse the bomb or a lot of people are going get neutroned. Owww. Complications ensue.

Lots of car chases we have seen before, lots of explosions and millions of rounds of ammunition are fired that never hit any of the good guys. The timer is ticking. There is a Russian rocket. Everybody is fighting with everybody else. The good guys seem to be able to escape from any predicament in 2 minutes or less and live to fight again. If you believe any of it then, I am sure, you are sure, you will get to keep your doctor.

Paul Walkers life ended all to soon at age 40. It appears part of his acting personna may have played a part in what he thought he could get away with in real life. There is a dedication to him at the end of the film.

Rated 2.4 out of 4.0 to suspect that 1st Paris, then Detroit and in a few years David Belle will return in the same role. Nome, Alaska?