Info: Opens today at the Broadway Centre Cinemas; rated R for strong violence, some drug content and language; in French with subtitles; 85 minutes.

If you know anyone who dismisses French films as arty highbrow stuff, treat her to this over-the-top action flick. A Paris slum has been walled off, "Escape From New York"-style, with its criminal element left to fend for itself. When a neutron bomb is hijacked, an undercover cop (Cyril Raffaelli) is sent to infiltrate the slum, reluctantly partnered with a crusading prisoner (David Belle) - who knows the slum inside and out, and wants to rescue his sister (Dany Verissimo) from the reigning drug lord (Bibi Naceri, who co-wrote the script with producer Luc Besson). Shot in kinetic music-video style by first-time director Pierre Morel (who was cinematographer on "Unleashed" and "The Transporter"), "District B13" serves up martial-arts acrobatics by Belle and Raffaelli that would give Jackie Chan a run for his money. If you can ignore the plot holes and the usual Besson misogyny, the action is a real kick.

Lady Vengeance

Info: Opens today at the Tower Theatre; rated R for strong violent content (some involving children) and some sexuality; in Korean with subtitles; 115 minutes.

Park Chanwook finishes his revenge trilogy with a tale that avoids the sickening torture of "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" but lacks the punch-in-the-gut energy of "Oldboy." The lady in question, Geum-ja (Lee Young-ae), was imprisoned at age 19 for kidnapping and killing a 5-year-old boy. After 13 years as a model prisoner, she emerges with a crew of supportive ex-con pals and a plan to get the teacher ("Oldboy" star Choi Min-sik) who actually committed the crime - though her revenge is complicated by the return of her now-teenage daughter (Kwon Yea-young). Park's imagery can be as poetic as it is jolting, but the pacing is slow and meandering (especially in the glut of backstory of Geum-ja's prison cronies), and the surprise ending doesn't have the emotional payoff Park obviously intended.

Sir! No Sir!

Info: Opens today at the Tower Theatre; not rated, but probably R for language and war images; 84 minutes.

David Zeiger was a college kid organizing protests against the Vietnam War. Now, as a documentary filmmaker, Zeiger explores one aspect of the anti-war protests not widely publicized today: the role of active-duty GIs and veterans in protesting the war, from objectors who faced court-martial to veterans recounting atrocities they say were sanctioned by the Pentagon. Zeiger combines interesting archival footage (such as some political-theater skits featuring Jane Fonda) and touching interviews with veterans and protesters, and suggests how forces have rewritten history to drive a wedge between Vietnam veterans and the protest movement. (For example, one interviewee argues the iconic image of protesters screaming "baby killer" at disembarking soldiers was an urban legend.) Zeiger presents a trippy alternative history that prompts questions about what today's troops in Iraq might be thinking.