Assault on Precinct 13 Movie Review:


A revitalization of John Carpenter’s 1976 film version, Assault on Precinct 13 is a ultra violent blood bath that is full of B-movie elements, but still injuries itself in terms of ridiculous nature. With different twists and numerous updates than the Carpenter creation, this film is nothing extravagant, but serves its purpose and is not a typically horribly January film during the current time of dump season.

In a furious opening sequence, similar in some aspects to the opening of Narc, undercover cop Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke) is involved in a operation gone bad and is left injured and his team dead. Flash forward eight months later to where Jake is now a pain killer popping cop that hides behind his desk at the ancient Precinct 13 in the middle of urban Detroit. It is New Year’s Eve, and the precinct is closing its doors forever in a few hours. The employees of the building are merely there to say goodbye and to celebrate the New Year. Outside of Jake as their distant boss, is the aging and soon to be retired Jasper O’Shea (Brian Dennehy) and a sexually enticed secretary named Iris (Drea de Matteo). As a harsh snowstorm ensues, Jake’s psychiatrist (Maria Bello) pays a visit and due to the storm actually becomes stuck at the precinct to welcome in the New Year. Also new to the precinct because of the storm is a transporting bus containing four criminals, which were on route to the city jail. The four new jail mates include an irritating junkie (John Leguizamo), a gang banger woman (Aisha Hands), a counterfeiting guru (Ja Rule), and a celebrity criminal named Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne).

Bishop is a cop-killing crime lord and once a violent entourage ensues upon the precinct, assumptions are made that Bishop’s loyal comrades are attempting to bust him out. However, Roenick learns that the arterially loaded army outside is not gangsters, but cops that are led by the devious Marcus Duvall (Gabriel Byrne). Bishop calmly explains to rattled leader of the precinct that one of his partners in crime is Duvall, and if he fingers him and his counterparts in court, they all go to jail. The troubling decision is then made by Roenick to let all of the criminals out of their cells, including Bishop to fight together and hopefully survive to aggressive assault that will continue to ensue.

French director Jean-Francois Richet handles the action sequences of the film like a veteran, with characters actually performing acceptable means of self defense, instead of seeing them fly around and dodging firepower in bullet time, which is what most action films of now days attempt to mimic. Richet’s notions are also brutal, which gives the film a more an authentic and grim feel. There are characters that are killed violently and without remorse, that in any other film would have been one of the miraculous survivors. The characters are all stock or one-dimensional, but with a film of this nature, energy is a necessity, not depth.

Unfortunately the film nearly wrecks, when Richet and screenwriter James DeMonaco run out of ideas by the third act and both noticeably start reaching for things. By the start of the film, it is obvious that this snowstorm is powerful and does not seem to be letting up anytime soon, but it somehow does. Also, Precinct 13 is located in the middle of an urban atmosphere, so how does the film alter locales into a climatic shootout in the woods? The wooden area seemed to just be added in an attempt for thrills of hearing character’s slowly walking through the snow and hiding behind various trees. Not mention the twists and character actions that do not connect, no matter how hard you try to figure them out. Perhaps some deleted scenes on the DVD version will answer a lot of the drastic potholes that develop. In is very likely that Assault of Precinct 13 will do a lot better on DVD than in the theaters, as the majority of B-movies do.

Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne linger into territories which we have seen before from them as a challenged cop and a powerful criminal. However, it is still a lot of fun to watch both of them work. Gabriel Byrne is also typically used as the real bad guy, but is not nearly as fun. Neither is Ja Rule or John Leguizamo, who both become the annoyances of the film. The great Brian Dennehy plays the drunken old man role, and Drea de Matteo is ravishing, but overdoes her role as the sexy secretary. Also in a role that she is a lot better than is Maria Bello, who plays Hawke’s concerned psychiatrist.

Assault of Precinct 13 is not necessarily a remake of the Carpenter version; there version. At least this film is not a rip-off, and the filmmakers gave credit to Carpenter’s original work. The film itself is an action machine that is entertaining, but becomes meshed in weak and stupid choices that are due to the filmmakers’ just running out of ideas.

Bailey Henderson

This is a 21st century-style remake of John Carpenter's 1976 action movie--nicely focussing on characters instead of the machinations of the plot. The result is a fairly edgy thriller that's not too demanding, but thoroughly entertaining.

On a snowy New Year's Eve in Detroit, Sergeant Jake Roenick (Hawke) is on duty with his saucy secretary (de Matteo) and an old-timer (Dennehy) for one last night at the soon-to-close Precinct 13. Then the storm strands Jake's court-ordered shrink (Bello) with them, as well as four dangerous prisoners--a notorious mob boss (Fishburne) and three low-lifes (Leguizamo, Atkins and Hinds). When the station is besieged by commandos, the cops and the criminals need to work together if there's any hope of getting out alive.

French director Richet uses handheld camera work and bold editing to keep the tension high right from the start, filling in the characters' back stories through dialog and scenes that provide insight into their personalities. As a result, when the plot starts churning through the requisite twists and turns, we are able to ride along with this odd group of people, actually caring what happens to them. To a degree.

Performances are strong from the actors who get something to do on screen, namely Hawke, Fishburne and de Matteo. The others provide bits of colour around the edges, while Byrne gets the thankless role as the shady cop who just wants to see Fishburne's slick, calm-in-the-storm baddie disappear forever. All of the actors clearly love the naturalistic dialog and the constant banter between characters. And this spark of individuality helps us forgive the extremely doubtful plot.

Because when you stop to think about it, there's nothing terribly plausible about this relentless storyline, which hinges on a series of conveniences and contrivances. But neither Richet's direction nor DeMonaco's script pauses long enough for us to dwell on the laughable plot holes, and the out-of-control situation develops into something engaging and very tense. And there's also a nice play on the 'honour among thieves' theme as we discover just a bit of dishonour among the cops.

Rich Cline

New Years Eve and Detroit Police station, Precinct 13 is about to close as snowstorms envelop the city. Sergeant Jake Roenick (Hawke), retiring officer Jasper O'Shea (Dennehy) and secretary Iris Ferry (de Matteo) are the only people on duty when despatch informs them that a prison transport has been routed to the precinct because the roads are becoming more treacherous as the storm takes a firmer grip. On that transport happens to be Detroit’s most notorious criminal Marion Bishop (Fishburne) and as he is placed in the cells of Precinct 13, assault teams surround the station determined to get inside but are they here to rescue Bishop or take him out.

As Hollywood struggles for ideas, the remake bandwagon continues with a new version of John Carpenter’s low budget cult classic but can this actually improve on the 1976 original?

While it might not be as gritty or gruesome as the original, this is a remake that is still a good movie in its own right. This is all due to old school, realistic violence of the film. With no slow motion, fancy camera tricks, wire fighting or computer graphics, this feels like an old-fashioned action flick that would have gone down well in the 70s and early 80s. The action is bloody, with stabbings, bullets to the head and executions and while they might not be a gratuitous as they might have been in the 70s and 80s, this is still a lot more gory than the current batch new millennium action movies.

The story is basic but it is the characters that draw you in. The coming together of criminals and police officers to fight for their lives is a great premise and a boiling pot for friction and mistrust. They have to trust each other to stay alive but there is always the feeling that when the opportunity arises, the criminals will stab their captors in the back and this adds to the tension.

The performances from an excellent ensemble cast only increase the tension and realism of the piece. Ethan Hawke doesn’t really make bad movies and his performance as guilt ridden Sergeant Jake Roenick is another fine one by the accomplished actor. This part could have been so easily over the top in the hands of a lesser actor but Hawke makes the character believeable and easy to connect with. Laurence Fishburne is another great actor who brings a real menace to Marion Bishop. This is a character that is both intriguing and deadly, a clever, calculated psychopath who you would be a fool to trust. Fishburne excels in roles like this and this character is no different. Gabriel Byrne is just as sinister as Marcus Duvall, the man who wants to get inside Precinct 13. This is a role that Byrne can play in his sleep but he still makes him memorable.

The supporting cast is also good. Maria Bello plays therapist Alex Sabian who becomes panic stricken as the mayhem breaks out. Drea de Matteo is her usual sassy self with another memorable role. John Leguizamo is suitable creepy as drug addict Beck and it is good to see Brian Dennehy return to mainstream cinema.

The remake of ‘Assault on Precinct 13’ might not have the same impact as the original but this is still an entertaining action flick. With good characters backed up by excellent performances, this is an old school action movie that will grip you from the start and not let go until the explosive finale.

Jamie Kelwick

 

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