When they first announced there was a remake of John Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13" in progress, my immediate reactions were a little something like: "What?...Why?... This is blasphemy! ... This movie doesn't need to be remade!... etc etc" John Carpenter's original definitely was a revolutionary cult film. It was shocking, disturbing and politically incorrect and they simply can't make movies like that anymore nowadays, no matter how cliché that sounds. Therefore it was impossible for this remake by Jean-François Richet (never heard of him) to improve over the 1976-version. The good news, however, is that Richet never really tries to steal Carpenter's thunder and he surely delivered the best possible movie he could. Assault '05 is an A-budgeted movie that often has the charm of a B-movie and hangs together by adorable clichés, stereotypes and very explicit violence. On new years eve 2004, moments before the transfer towards a brand new police precinct, the old and abandoned precinct 13 is besieged by a gang of heavily armed and well-trained police officers. The reason? Top-gangster Marion Bishop, who was arrested earlier that night, has too much knowledge regarding the corrupt cop Marcus Duvall and his unit. In order to save their own careers, they have to eliminate Bishop before dawn, but also the innocent cops and random people who're in the precinct, because they know too much too now. The film offers quite a lot of suspense, good acting performances (by an impressive cast) and hard-boiled action. The setting (Chicago during a severe blizzard) adds to the tension. John Carpenter's original (which was, in fact, already a sort of remake of "Rio Bravo") will always remain one of the coolest, groundbreaking action movies ever (if it were only for that brutal and hugely controversial ice cream-truck sequence alone), but this film is a neat tribute.
