Assault On Precinct 13 DVD > Reviews > Go on, just do the jump Fishburne!!

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Satisfactory

Advantages:	good action packed film !
Disadvantages:	nothing really new in it .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Assault on Precinct 13 is a polished remake of the 70’s classic with Ethan Hawke as a good cop whose quiet new year’s eve at his run-down Detroit precinct turns crazy when a crime lord (Fishburne), put in the cells, is the target of an attack from masked gun-men. Criminals and Police unite in an attempt to fight against the ambush.

The Characters and film makers

Ethane Hawke – Jake Roenick
Lawrence Fishburne – Marion Bishop
Drea De Matteo – Iris Ferry
Brian Dennehy – Jasper O’shea
John Leguizamo – Beck
Jeffrey “Ja rule” Attkins – Smiley
Maria Bello – Alex Sabien
Gabriel Byrne – Marcus Duval

Directed by Jean Francois Richet

Before I go on to review the movie can I just say how thrilled I am to find out that “gangsta Rappa from the hood” Ja rule’s real name is actually Jeffrey!! Anyway I digress.

Plot

As I mentioned before Assault on precinct 13 is a remake of John Carpenter's 1976 film debut. I have never seen the original so will not go out to compare the two films.
It is a classic head – to – head show down with a twist. It is not just goodies against baddies but baddies teamed with goodies against baddies that are suppose to be goodies, get it? Precinct 13 is a run down “cop shop” that is closing down and has nearly packed everything up and shipped out. There are limited resources and absolutely no staff except Sergeant Jake Roenick, Jasper O’shea and Secretary Iris Ferry. As the last hours of 2004 are upon them, Iris informs Roenick that there is a visitor for him in his office in the extremely attractive shape of Alex Sabien, a visiting police psychologist. Roenick is struggling to come to terms with a fatal undercover operation that happened only 8 months earlier. He came off with a nasty bullet wound to the leg but his colleagues, and best friends, going off in the directions Roenick ordered them to go, were both killed. As a result Roenick is addicted to pain killers and alcohol. Both Precinct thirteen and Roenick have seen better days.

Earlier on and some place else in the city, crime Lord Marion Bishop (Lawrence Fishburne) is set up by an under cover cop, who he then killed. He is taken away to the city police department for questioning, ready to be transferred to the high security prison. However due to harsh weather conditions en route, the bus is re- routed to precinct 13, the closest police station at hand. There are 4 prisoners. Hustler Smiley, (Ja Rule), Junkie Beck (John Leguizamo) and gang member Anna (Aisha Hinds) who, rather hilariously, continuously insists she has never broken a law before in her life, (despite being an expert at hot wiring a car!). So, on the inside of the precinct are, Sergeant Roenick (police), Jasper O’Shea (police) the bus driver (police) another policeman who was in the bus, Iris Ferry and Alex Sabien (stranded after her car wouldn’t move in the weather), also the 3 criminals and Marion Bishop.

The New Year is upon them but all is not well as two masked gunmen break into the precinct and end up killing the two policemen from the bus. They are beaten back and from then on ensues a harsh battle between the two forces. The line between policeman and criminal is harshly tested and bleeds together, on two levels, as they are forced to work together to defend the precinct from the hordes of corrupt policemen bearing down on them. It is nothing if not action packed!!

My opinion.

There are parts of this film that were very clever. Jean Francois Richet drew subtle parallels between the criminals and the police who were inside the precinct. One example of this was the parallel between Ethan Hawke’s character and John Leguizamo character in that they were both addicts, although they’re poisons were different. These parallel’s are drawn when each policeman is paired off with a criminal to man the various exits, this part is a must see to get the full extent of what Richet was trying to achieve. Ethan Hawke’s acting is not spectacular but it is good. I couldn’t help thinking that Lawrence Fishburne was going to launch into a matrix esque jump and feel that he has been type cast from this film. He is still very good as the cool, calm, take no prisoners, make no apologies, crime lord however, if not even a little bit sexy at some points! There isn’t really any actor that stands out as absolutely fantastic but there are none that let the film down either. You come away remembering Hawke for his sheer good looks and Fishburne because of his size, he’s HUGE!!

Think of training day and you have the basic premise for the film. At first it really reminded me of a computer game, one of those where you have the bad guys coming at you and you fight like hell, pushing the x button as fast as you can and eventually killing the baddy only to encounter another and kill him with the latter one’s gun! It continues like this with the police officers inside the precinct having to think of bigger and better ways to defend themselves. After all the police officers outside have all the latest gadgets and gizmo’s in order to kill everyone inside, no matter who they were!!

There is a great mix of humour and action which all good action thrillers should have, a lot of it being provided by the extremely butch gang member Anna. There is also a little twist which isn’t entirely unexpected but perfectly executed by Richet. There is a personal feud between Roenick and Bishop which runs through it which really was neither here nor there and wouldn’t have effected the film had it been missed out. The film is very good in parts because unlike a lot of its predecessors (although because this is a remake that’s a kind of oxymoron or is that a conjunction, or is it either… however!) it takes no prisoners and where a person would normally die, they don’t miraculously get away and do in fact die.

The visual effects are basic but it isn’t the type of film that calls out for spectacular special effects and is actually more effective being minimal as it comes across more true to life.

And did I mention that Ethan Hawke looks tre tre good in it?? Hmmmmmmmmmm

I’ll give it 4 stars, dropping one because there was no spectacular acting that sticks in your mind.

Thanks for reading

Heather x

(P.S I’m not sure this is in the right place because I could only find reviews on the old Assault on precinct 13 and none on the new one which I found very strange!!)