Sons of the Wind

The Great Challenge looks like a kickboxing or cagefighting flick at first, but it's actually a parkour film. Parkour, as I keep reminding you, is an urban sport that involves running up walls, jumping off buildings and climbing over fences, at top speed. It was developed by David Belle, who developed the concept based on his father's army experiences in "Indochine".

This movie (French title: Les Filles du Vent) stars Williams Belle and a band of parkour traceurs (runners) known as the Yamakasi. This band goes to Bangkok to set up a gym for street kids. At least that's the MacGuffin. They somehow get involved with a group of Thai/Chinese/Japanese ninjas who are fighting the Triads (Triad boss: Pink Panther's Burt Kwouk!) to gain the favor of the Yakoooza! OK, it makes no sense, but it does allow one of the Yamakasi to fall in love with the sister of the ninja leader.

Let's skip the plot stuff and break it down:

• Sets and location: Bangkok looks like a cool city, full of barn-like warehouses (where the Yamakasi set up), international hotels (where the Triads rule) and industrial badlands (for the ninja). Also, idyllic temples and parks where they practice Muai Thai.
  
• Costumes: The ninja wear these funny headbag hoodies, the Yakooza wear suits and ties, but the Yamakasi have the coolest Asian pajama/tracksuits/high-necked vests/djellabas/etc. I want to dress like that, but hope I resist the urge...
• Actors: The Yamakasi leader, Belle, is Euro. Four others are of African origin, another is Asian. The leader of the ninjas, a real-life Yamakasi, is Asian/Euro. They look seriously good. They are all gorgeous and athletically gifted. They may not be great actors, because mostly they just look stoical, but man, they look good.
• Editing: Only about 10% of the stunts are shown start-to-finish. This may have been an artistic mistake, but probably just allowed them to fake a lot of the jumps. But there are plenty of amazing stunts, for real, no wires.

It seems that this is more or less the sequel to Yamakasi (not on Netflix), and Luc Besson is involved. In the Phillippines, this movie is titled Yamakasi vs. Ong Bak. I see influences from both (someone does the Tony Jaa trick of running across peoples heads). Try it and see.

In conclusion, more parkour! Put these guys in more movies!