6 Jaw-Dropping Parkour Scenes From The Big Screen

From the 1930s, via France, Thailand, and Scranton we bring you the 6 most jaw-dropping Parkour scenes from the Big Screen.

Gizmo

Ahh perhaps the oldest known footage of Parkour from the long forgotten comedy movie Gizmo starring German stunt man Arnim Dala. Dala who’s motto was; “better 10 seconds of fear, than a month of work”. You got to respect a man with a motto like that. Amazingly he actually predates David Belle ‘the founder of Parkour’ by some 50 years…

Banlieue 13

Possibly one of the most famous Parkour scenes committed to film, David Belle founded Parkour in this very movie! Before this it didn’t exist. Don’t worry if your French is not quite up to scratch, this clip has been helpfully subtitled in Japanese. Banlieue 13 or District 13 in English is a movie directed by Luc Besson set in the distant future of 2010 (that was a joke), where the government has basically built a giant ghetto - D13 and left it to fend for itself. Gangs take over, and as ever when gangs take over anywhere in the world, men start jumping of roofs.

Casino Royale

The launch of a new Bond, Daniel Craig burst onto our screens literally, in a hail of explosions, realistic action, and a sweet five minute opening Parkour sequence. When arguing who is the best Bond perhaps we have to now consider the fact that Sean Connery never jumped between two cranes - though I did hear that George Lazenby was David Belle’s inspiration for inventing Parkour.

Ong Bak: Muay Thai Warrior

Starring the incredible Tony Jaa contains some fantastic Parkour footage as you can see from the montage below. Unlike in District 13 (see above) there were “no stunt doubles, no computer images, no strings attached.” In fact that was how the movies was advertised, which make you appreciate all of the stunts in the movie even more. If you haven’t seen Ong Bak yet and love hard hitting martial arts or just a good action film - you need to check it out. Now!

The Office

Technically not the big screen but this is an example of Parkour at it’s most exhilarating and ‘jaw-dropping’, starring two of the best characters on US TV at the moment Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute. You can run and jump from roof tops to express your Parkour skills or alternatively you can roll around on a sofa and shout “Parkour” loudly to do it properly.

Yamakasi

In Yamakasi a gang utilise their impressive Parkour skills to climb buildings and commit a series of breath taking burglaries to raise the money needed for their friend to get a much needed life saving operation. In a way this is like the French equivalent of Robin Hood, except that it’s not set in Nottingham and there are less bows and arrows and more jumping and climbing.