Ash Ketchum

I went to see KINGSMAN last night and noticed that the hero, Eggsy, played by Taron Egerton, did some parkour at his working-class housing project in one sequence where he flees the blue-collar "blokes" who were beaten up by Colin Firth in the previous scene.

Over the weekend I was watching PAUL BLART MALL COP on a TV in the gym while riding the exercise bike and I noticed a scene during the DIE HARD-style robbery of the mall where one of the robbers does parkour using the terrain of the shopping mall.

So I got to thinking about examples of parkour I've seen in movies and I'm guessing that CASINO ROYALE (2006) was the first film I saw with parkour in it, followed by DISTRICT B13 (aka BANLIEUE 13) which I first saw in late 2008, which was pretty much devoted to parkour. I still haven't seen the sequel, DISTRICT 13: ULTIMATUM (2009) or the remake, BRICK MANSIONS (2014).

I found a list on Wikipedia of films with parkour in them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Parkour_in_film

A couple of them are animated, which should disqualify them from such a list. Some I've never heard of.
Neither KINGSMAN nor PAUL BLART MALL COP are on that list.

Now it could be that my definition of what constitutes parkour is broader than Wikipedia's. To me, parkour is the art of using the everyday urban landscapes to perform high speed movement or acrobatics and balancing acts. It's the kind of thing Jackie Chan used to do routinely in his modern-set films. He would use these stunts in the context of kung fu fights.

Can anyone recommend any of the films on that list that I haven't seen, as showcases for parkour?

Can anyone think of other films that featured parkour?

Thank you.

Obi-Wanma

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Solid Snake

Jackie Chan pretty much was parkour before parkour had a name.

The Incredible Hulk has some very little moments in there.

RocShemp

Back in my day parkour was called "that shit Jackie Chan does".

Donnie Yen does a little parkour during a foot chase in Flashpoint. There's parkour during the rooftop chase of The Incredible Hulk (Cyril Rafaelli was also Tim Roth's double in that movie). There's poorly shot/edited parkour in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (they even wasted David Belle's talents on that one). There's also parkour in Babylon A.D.

Solid Snake

The French bald guy District 13 was a baddie in Life Free and Die Hard.

And... yeah. "That shit Jackie Chan does" is actually a pretty term call term for early parkour.

robin2099

Yeah Jackie Chan basically created it on screen. Taylor Lautner has a new movie coming out about it.

Brack

Urbana Legend

robin2099

Oh I forgot. Punisher War Zone had a parkour gang.

Solid Snake

OMG. YES. War Zone. Crap script but great action direction.

hanshotfirst1138

The foot chase sequence is the best part of Ong Bak. If it's not parkour, it certainly looks like it. Is the Thai version on Blu-ray? I'd like to see more "shit that Jackie Chan does." God, that market is so fucked.

mrhan

Close enough and the bald dude from District 13 worked with Tony Jaa and I'm assuming there might be parkour in Furious 7. Missed opportunity if there isn't 'cause Jaa is in it.

There's also Merantau by Evans the director of the Raid films.

Wasn't there a little parkour action in the first Bond film with Craig?

Preterite

The guy from Casino Royale (one of the developers of parkour and a founder of the Yamakazi group) has a minor role in The Tournament. There's a crazy scene where he chases a car through an alley using the environment to keep up.

The character of Roy Harper on Arrow uses parkour every time he sees action, to the growing amusement of the audience. I don't watch Gotham, but I'd be surprised if Li'l Catwoman didn't use parkour.

Banlieue 13 is still the best showcase for the art. There's a lot of really cool moves in Yamakazi, but they're more clever than badass.

dugan

Tarzan (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120855/)

OldBoy

as mentioned District B13 and its' sequel Ultimatum. just fanntastic!

hanshotfirst1138

Cyril obviously seems to have training in some other martial arts style besides parkour too, he does some brawling as well as jumping.

Why So Blu?

He was also Tim Roth's stunt double in Incredible Hulk and am sure he helped coordinate the cgi for Hulk's parkour moves.

RocShemp

Yeah, he's a martial artist first. David Belle introduced him to Parkour (which itself is derived from martial arts).

Cyril Raffaelli had a great fight against Jet Li in Kiss of the Dragon and his fight versus Jason Statham in The Transporter was criminally cut down to one kick to the face.

hanshotfirst1138

I've never forgiven them for blowing the chance for a fight between Carano and Taslim in Fast Five. Hopefully Jaa will be able to give chase teo somebody and show off some moves.

Huh. Don't remember that. Netflix streamed it at one point, but took it down . Saw it, it was too long and sappy, but killer fights.

Yeah, the opening set piece, one of best of all the Bond action sequences in a good many years.

I think he coordinate the parkour in the sequence where Banner is chased across the rooftops.

I believe it's now considered a martial art unto itself.

His Kiss of the Dragon brawl with Lee is great, choreographed by Yuen, and it's actually edited coherently too! Besson's scripts may be schlocky, but at least he can cut a fight scene, unlike Hollywood. I didn't even realize he was in The Transporter. Him, the Stath, and Yuen would've made a great combo, shame they never got to fight much .

RocShemp

Look at the deleted scenes and watch the extended version of the bus station fight. That's where Raffaelli briefly fights Statham. It's really impressive to see the moves Raffaelli is capable of in a very enclosed space. Unfortunately, the theatrical cut only kept one shot of Statham kicking Raffaelli in the face.

I would love a martial arts flick with Cyril Raffaelli, Jason Statham, and Donnie Yen. Hell, toss in Iko Uwais and make the final action sequence a 20 minute free-for-all.

Solid Snake

And have it directed by Gareth Evans, The Raid director.

Trevor

RocShemp

No because he'd make an epic 20-minute sequence into an excessive 40-minute sequence. I admire the guy's enthusiasm but he's like the Peter Jackson of the martial arts world. He needs someone to remind him about expediency.

I'd rather the directing being handled by Chad Stahelski and David Leitch.

Then again, a smart producer would ask Gareth Evans for an 8-minute finale and then we'd get our epic 20-minute sequence.

RocShemp

Wow. I forgot all about that movie.

PhantomStranger

There is a little parkour action in one of Van Damme's movies from the 90s but I forget which one.

wmansir

I haven't seen it but I listened to a podcast with Lexi Alexander and she talked about how she put them in the film because she was told by several people not to include parkour because everyone was doing it so she figured why not use that backlash and have the the Punisher take out some parkour assholes.

It's a really great interview from the How Did This Get Made podcast with guest co-host Patton Oswalt.