Assault on Precinct 13

A remake of John Carpenter's superior film of the same title from 1976, Assault on Precinct 13 concerns a siege on a largely abandoned police station, which is related to the presence of a notorious criminal, Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne). It's left up to a ragtag group of police employees and criminals to defend themselves.

I should start by noting that I absolutely love Carpenter's original film. In my view it is one of his best, perfectly capturing the suburban desolation of 1970s Los Angeles, and exquisitely suspenseful and horrifying, even though it's not really a horror film. Despite that, when this remake of Assault on Precinct 13 began, I had high hopes for it. The first scene is well directed, well shot, with excellent dialogue. It turns into an intense action scene at just the right moment, and results in some realistic, gritty deaths. The opening is as good as anything in the Carpenter film.

Unfortunately, Assault on Precinct 13's excellence ended right there. It's not exactly a bad film--I enjoyed it more often than not, but it does have more than its share of flaws. In the end, my rating average out to a 7 out of 10. Recommendable, but with reservations.

The first problem is that director Jean-Francois Richet tries to do too much--too much backstory, too many characters, too many over-the-top characters, too many quick cuts, too much shaky hand-held camera work, too many "big action moves", too many explosions, too many settings, and it's too dark. That the film is often so quickly edited and dark makes it too often difficult to see what's going on in the action scenes. Carpenter's film succeeded by being very taut, economical, sober and logical in its directorial style. Richet tries to one-up the original by forgoing all of those qualities. By the second or third scene, I was fairly confused. Superfluous characters were popping in and out, people were mumbling dialogue, and there was a whole complex backstory being hinted at and not spelled out very well.

The brutal shooting near the beginning of the original film, which sets off the whole sequence of events, was dropped--that thread was completely removed from the film. It was lamentable in that this new Assault loses much of the simple, sensible drive the thread provided, and it was surely a decision based on political correctness. Likewise, Bishop is not allowed to be a clear-cut bad guy here. That saps some of the effectiveness out of his cooperation. In this film, he might be mostly tough talk. The other criminals in the film are either left largely unexplained or guilty of only petty or consensual crimes. I find this kind of political correctness in films reprehensible, although I realize it's primarily a studio decision.

On the positive side, the villains here were cleverly conceived, and their nature makes them much more menacing physically. On the negative side, however, Richet lost the Night of the Living Dead (1968) zombie-like nature of the marauders, which saps suspense from the attacks. The logistics of the defense of the police station and details of their dilemma are not very clearly scripted or staged, either, which doesn't help. Another flaw is that some intruders seem to inexplicably hesitate. Another positive, though, is that Richet's film brings back a few small details, such as the capture of the criminal at the beginning of the film, and a substance addiction in one of the heroes leading to a character transformation, found in Rio Bravo (1959), the film that in conjunction with Night of the Living Dead, was the main inspiration for Carpenter's original film.

Also on the positive side, this Assault has a skilled (and much more well known) cast. Even though Richter occasionally directed them to be a bit too over-the-top, the performances hit many very interesting notes. And a few of the additions to the original film, such as a Mexican standoff and a couple later scenes outside the police station were excellent. The increased firepower here may also be to some viewer's liking.

A viewer less fond of the original, or even unfamiliar with the original, may like Assault better than I did. I may have even liked it better if the original were not so fresh in my memory (I just watched it again it recently--a review is forthcoming). There are enough redeeming aspects for action fans to make it worth at least a rental or a viewing on cable, but approach the film with lowered expectations.

Now, before you criticize me, I have never seen the original John Carpenter version of this film. Being a huge fan, I really should see it, and after seeing this remake, I will definitely track down the original to see if it is as good as this film. I had a blast!

New Years in Detroit, a cold winter's morning as Precinct 13 prepares to close it's doors and move to a new building. There are only three people in the building on New Year's Eve, and as a storm draws closer, a criminal being transported to a maximum security center is re-routed to the deserted precinct. Only, there are some other people that would like to get closer to the villain.

Very exciting story and excellent acting by both Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishbourne take this action over the edge. Some people may find the film ultra violent, but violence on the big screen never bothered me, so I enjoyed it quite a lot! Definitely worth a look for action fans, and fans of the original who are curious. However, those that are disturbed by violent images, would like to steer clear of this film.

This is a remake of a remake and yet still packs a punch. I've seen the original "Rio Bravo" several times, including when it first came out. It was masterfully done and was one of the Duke's best movies from the 1950's. I saw John Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13" when it first came out in 1976 and remember it as being one of Carpenter's best movies. Now we have another version with basically the same characters including the drunk, originally played by Dean Martin, who is tested by the struggle for survival and eventually passes with flying colors. When I first heard the Christmas music in the movie, it took me a moment to grasp the reason for the Dean Martin selection until I realized it was the producer's way of paying homage to the crooner's performance in "Rio Bravo." This would be more entertaining for those who have not seen the originals. This remake follows the originals to the point of spoiling some of the surprises intended. I won't go into detail on this since it would then spoil the surprises for those who have not seen the originals. The story is there; the action is there; and the entertainment is there, especially for those who are seeing it for the first time.

I saw this remake last night and must say that it was an extremely enjoyable two hours right from the get-go. The opening of the story is one of the best I've seen in years, and throughout the acting is solid which wasn't surprising with this cast, but the dialogue was great all the way through, which you don't usually get in films anymore, and the action and building of tension was done very well by the director, his choreographers, and the composers. Top notch performance from Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, John Leguizamo, and Brian Dennehy. Very solid leading lady turn for Drea DeMatteo, as well as from Maria Bello. And the casting of Gabriel Bryne as the villain is genius although I would have liked to have seen him do a bit more on screen with Hawke and Fishburne. Overall, a solid 9 out of 10 for giving me some things in a film that I'll remember simply because there unexpected and done really well. Go see this film if you like good action filled thrillers, I promise as a filmmaker myself, it won't disappoint.

Jean Richet's remake of the Carpenter thriller Assault on Precinct 13 is surprisingly entertaining. Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) loses the Carpenteresque weirdness and soundtrack, and tells the story of a remote, run-down police precinct under assault using more conventional cinematography and production. This is an achievement, but not because of the difficulty of following in the footsteps of Carpenter - because the film entertains without doing so, and because the narrative - just like all of Carpenter's films- manages to keep going without regard for the improbability of the plot. In other words, the Director kept a straight face and made the film entertaining enough to allow for a certain amount of suspended disbelief.

Strong, fast, characterization - part of the legacy of Carpenter's film - makes a big difference early on. The cast is uniformly excellent and the main characters - unusual for this genre - are all unique, believable and consistent. Fishburn plays a big bad guy incarcerated by fiat in the small, run-down Precinct 13. Hawke is the Sergeant in charge of the precinct - a man with psychological and drug problems associated with a traumatic event which opens the film. These two improbable allies must pool their resources to defend the precinct against... who?

The film is first and foremost an action film. The action is typical for the genre as of 2005 - i.e. - much of what takes place is only believable because of its entertainment value and internal consistently. Suspense is well constructed throughout the film, and the pace of the film reaches a frenetic level about 1/3rd of the way through, never letting up. The cinematography is surprisingly dissimilar to the original. Richet's film is more of a standard suspense thriller than anything bearing Carpenter's signature.

Recommended for its entertainment value, solid cast, and well-constructed (though somewhat ridiculous) plot.