Amazon.co.uk Review
Action buffs will have a fine time with the spray of bullets, shattering glass, and pyrotechnic silliness that makes up the bulk of
Assault on Precinct 13. Updated from the little-known cops-and-robbers classic John Carpenter made in 1976 (two years before he made his name with
Halloween), this high-concept thriller is mostly a lowbrow kill-fest, and is very happy with itself for being so efficient in both categories. A decrepit police station on its last night before retirement--New Year's Eve, no less--plays unexpected home to a gang of criminals who become snowbound in the basement lockup. Another mysterious gang of people who stealthily gather in the blizzard outside want one of the particularly nasty criminals (Laurence Fishburne) dead, and they'll take the rest of the precinct down too, by golly. The odd lot of characters trapped inside include a burned-out sergeant (Ethan Hawke), a sexpot secretary (post-
Sopranos Drea de Matteo), an even sexier police psychologist (Maria Bello), and various other good guys and bad guys who variously go down in blazes of guts, glory, bullets, and fire. Hawke and Fishburne are opposite sides of the coin: the law, and the bathroom scale. Their need to partner in order to survive the guns outside is the movie's moral conflict, and both actors chew on
Precinct 13's peeling walls and scuffed floors to drive the point home every chance they get. Obvious filmmaking fakery abounds in everything from the irksome snowstorm, frequent gunshots to the head, and a shadowy forest that conveniently presents itself in an industrial section of Detroit for the climactic showdown. No matter, this
Assault is for non-thinkers who want blood and gunpowder, with no messy slowdowns for logic, please.
--Ted Fry
Synopsis
In 1976, John Carpenter paid homage to Howard Hawks' superlative western RIO BRAVO with his second full-length feature film, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13. Now it's Carpenter's turn to experience some cinematic adulation, with this remake of the film from director Jean-François Richet. Set in Detroit, Richet's film focuses on police Sergeant Jake Roenick, whose failed career as an undercover cop has lead to a New Years Eve stint in charge of the dilapidated Precinct 13. As a snowstorm rattles the windows and doors of the rundown station, Roenick exchanges some festive banter with police psychologist Alex Sabian (Maria Bello); curvaceous secretary Iris Ferry (Drea de Matteo); and retiring veteran Jasper O'Shea (Brian Dennehy). But their merriment is interrupted when a diverted prison bus escapes the ravages of the storm, seeking a temporary haven for its peccant passengers in Precinct 13. Criminal mastermind Marion Bishop (Laurence Fisburne) is on board, along with a junkie, Beck (John Leguizamo), and two young felons, Smiley (Ja Rule) and Anna (Aisha Hinds). Hot on their tail comes police detective Marcus Duvall (Gabriel Byrne), a crooked cop who wants Bishop dead before he testifies against Duvall in court. Bringing a formidable army of fellow corrupt officers with him, Duvall puts the police station under siege in order to snag his man before it's too late. But he doesn't bank on the impressive wiles of Roenick and his rag-tag mixture of cops and criminals, who unite in an attempt to defend themselves from an execrable ending at the hands of Duvall and his men. A highly entertaining action romp ensues, with director Richet delivering a fast-paced thriller laced with violence and surprising plot twists, ensuring viewers are kept on their toes right up until the film's blood-soaked finale.
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