To the best of my knowledge, this was one of the very first feature films to showcase the amazing art of Parkour.

The plot (minimalist as it may be) concerns a group of seven Parkour specialists (the Yamakasi of the films title) who resolve to utilise their amazing skills in order to undertake some highly energetic burglaries; the intention being that the stolen loot will be used to pay for a little lads desperately needed heart transplant. The intentional irony is that the 'victims' whom our heroes are stealing from are the very same unscrupulous doctors who are making vast sums of money on the side for these dubious organ deals.

The above scenario provides the requisite excuse for some awesome free running displays throughout, probably most spectacularly in one sequence wherein three of our heroes are chased around a lavish entrance hall by some ferocious guard dogs.

Aside from the incredible acrobatic displays another factor which really lifts the film is its curious feel good factor which permeates throughout. Another reviewer here summed it up best by likening this to a children's film although certainly not in any derogatory way. Scenes of violence are entirely eschewed in favour of relief comedy instead which makes for a pleasantly refreshing change.

I've read some reviews bemoaning the fact that with seven main protagonists plus a number of other major characters, all cramped into a 90 or so minute film, character development is inevitably limited. Whilst admittedly true, I really didn't find it to be an issue here as our hero's are such an instantly likable bunch and after all, it's their physical agility that is the real star anyway.

Overall, after hearing so many Luke warm verdicts on this film, I was very pleasantly surprised after finally viewing it for myself. It requires nothing more than to sit back, relax and enjoy the spectacle. Certainly if like me, you enjoyed this and your Parkour appetite has been whetted, then you would be well advised to seek out its semi sequel, Les Fils Du Vent and the awesome District 13 for some more free running shenanigans.

Let me start this saying that I consider Luc Besson a very creative person. Probably he is not the best writer, he may not even be a good one, but he always comes up with the most original ideas in his scripts. And I admire him for that.

With that said, I must said that I had mixed feelings when I was watching "Yamakasi"; for one part, I was so amazed by the complex stunts and the beautiful action scenes shot in an old school way, everything beautifully choreographed, but, on the other hand, the dramatic scenes and the plot were so weak that I wonder how a script written by three people could be so plain and undeveloped.

The core plot is very simple, the Yamaksi are a gang of 7 guys whose love for adrenaline has taken them to create the extreme sport of climbing buildings as mountains and practically defy gravity in their acrobatic adventures; one day a kid tries to imitate them, but his heart condition makes him faint and suddenly he needs a heart transplant. The problem is, that the organ can only be get by illegal ways, so it will cost a lot of money that his family can't pay. The Yamakasi, feeling guilty, decide to steal from the rich to gather the sum needed for the transplant. they only have 6 hours to get the money and they will use all of their skills to make it.

The problem with the plot, is that it is all we get, it is just a mere excuse to show the Yamakasi skills and to make fun of the French police. I must say again that I was impressed by the amazing stunts, but I would have liked something to identify with the characters.

The script's problem is not the story, as many people believe, because I found it very original. In my opinion, the problem with the movie is that we have very few development of the 7 heroes, we barely know them so it is very hard to feel empathy towards them. The Yamakasi end up as 2-dimensional heroes with very limited motivations. It would be great if at least 10 minutes of the movie had been spent in getting to know them, but the only thing we know is their nickname and their "ability".

That would be my only complain, because it seriously hurt the film. As result of the undeveloped characters, there is very few the actors can do. Nevertheless, Maher Kamoun did a remarkable job, although it is probably because his character, Vincent, is the only one who gets a complete development; as a police officer who is a cousin of one of the Yamakasi, he has to struggle between his responsibility as officer and his responsibility with his family.

Something that is also worth noticing, is that our 7 (9 if we count Vincent and their friend Michelin) heroes show a lot of ethnic diversity that reflects the society in modern day France. To have a team of Arabs, Africans and French as heroes was something way different from what we are used to see.

In the end, "Yamakasi - Les Samouraïs des Temps Modernes" is an average but entertaining film that, while certainly could have been a lot better, at least supplies good entertainment with a big dose of adrenaline. 6/10

The YAMAKASI are a bunch of kids who practise what is variously known as Parkour and Free Running, a sort of sport/art/philosophy involving the development of skills for the traversal of urban environments in interesting ways (http://www.parkour.com/).

YAMAKASI the film is a Luc Besson production that basically provides a vehicle for 7 of these kids to show their stuff, in the pretence of helping a young kid who needs a heart transplant. It actually feels rather like a kids film, with larger than life characters (a bit of a keystone cops thing going on) and a message about being a bit rebellious but in a good way, or something.

The group are real life practitioners of Parkour, not professional actors - which kind of shows, though not in a particularly bad way - they're not wooden, but don't exactly express deep or complicated emotions.

Given that the film is basically a vehicle for Parkour, it's somewhat disappointing that not all that much of it is shown. There's some building scaling which is impressive but not particularly cinematic, then a bunch of antics where very little "free running" is shown - there are just a couple of scenes which show the potential the film could have had, towards the end. That potential has recently been realised much more dramatically in the film BANLIEUE 13, where one of the founders of Parkour is teamed up with martial artist Cyril Raffaelli for some truly original and sometimes incredible action sequences which show how Parkour could really be the foundation of a whole new action style. It's a shame that YAMAKASI, for whatever reason, didn't seem to know what to do with it. I'm hoping that the semi-sequel LES FILS DU VENT will put the group's talents to better use.