It's good for a silly laugh, this stuff. And maybe this movie will draw renewed attention to Carpenter's eminently better movie.
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:160
Fresh:97
Rotten:63
Average Rating:5.9/10
Consensus: This remake has been praised by some as an expertly made B-movie, and dismissed by others as formulaic.
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: To survive the night, cops and criminals alike will have to unite and fight. A classic head-to-head showdown ignites in Assault on Precinct 13, an all-new update of the 1976 action thriller of the... To survive the night, cops and criminals alike will have to unite and fight. A classic head-to-head showdown ignites in Assault on Precinct 13, an all-new update of the 1976 action thriller of the same name. With only a few hours left in the calendar year, Precinct 13, one of Detroit's oldest precinct houses, is closing. Amid heavy snowfall and unsafe road conditions, only a few lawmen remain on duty for New Year's Eve. They are headed by Sergeant Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke), a good cop wrestling with bad memories of a fatal undercover op from the previous spring. Roenick and Precinct 13 have both seen better days. Early on December 31st, deep in the city, formidable crime lord Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne), is cornered by an undercover cop. Their ensuing struggle leaves the cop dead - and Bishop captured, by the Organized Crime and Racketeering squad that Marcus Duvall (Gabriel Byrne) runs. Bishop is handcuffed and herded onto a prison bus with several criminals: junkie Beck (John Leguizamo), hustler Smiley (Jeffrey "Ja Rule" Atkins), and gang member Anna (Aisha Hinds). But the battering snowstorm stops the bus well short of its high-security destination and strands it at the remote Precinct 13 - where, as night falls, the prisoners are temporarily incarcerated. This influx of prisoners irks Roenick, almost as much as visiting police psychologist Alex Sabian (Maria Bello) does. But Precinct 13's provocative secretary Iris Ferry (Drea de Matteo) and salty veteran cop Jasper "Old School" O'Shea (Brian Dennehy) won't let the increasing workload deter them from celebrating... ...until two masked gunmen break in and attack the guards from the bus. The gunmen are just barely beaten back, and everyone inside Precinct 13 realizes that more will come - to extract crime lord Bishop, but also armed and ready to shoot anyone and everyone else. The cops, looking to the reluctant Roenick for leadership, and the cons, looking to the steely Bishop for an angle, must join forces to live. Fortifying themselves with minimal weaponry and maximum courage, they will not go gently into the bad night. As they fight to the death, the thin lines between good and bad bleed together. Rogue Pictures presents A Why Not/Liaison Films/Biscayne Pictures Production. Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne. Assault on Precinct 13. John Leguizamo, Maria Bello, Jeffrey "Ja Rule" Atkins, Drea de Matteo, Matt Craven. With Brian Dennehy and Gabriel Byrne. Visual Effects Supervisor, Dennis Berardi. Casting by Billy Hopkins, Suzanne Smith, Kerry Barden. Costume Designers, Vicki Graef, Georgina Yarhi. Music Supervisor, John Houlihan. Music by Graeme Revell. Editor, Bill Pankow, A.C.E. Production Designer, Paul Denham Austerberry. Director of Photography, Robert Gantz. Co-Producer, James DeMonaco. Executive Producers, Don Carmody, Sebastien Kurt Lemercier, Joseph Kaufman. Produced by Pascal Caucheteux, Stephane Sperry, Jeffrey Silver. Based on the film written by John Carpenter. Screenplay by James DeMonaco. Directed by Jean-Francois Richet. A Rogue Pictures Release. -- © Rogue Pictures [More]
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, Maria Bello, Drea de Matteo
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, Maria Bello, Drea de Matteo, John Leguizamo, Aisha Hinds, Gabriel Byrne, Brian Dennehy, Currie Graham
Director: Jean-Francois Richet
Director: Jean-Francois Richet
Screenwriter: James DeMonaco
Producer: Pascal Caucheteux, Jeffrey Silver, Stephane Sperry
Composer: Graham Revell
Studio: Focus Features
Reviews for Assault on Precinct 13
A blast of cheesy, full throttle fun that didn't have to be made nearly as well as it was to do the job it was meant to do.
...a good, old-fashioned shoot’em up infused with today’s liking for flawed, ambiguous heroes and villains who are more than just killing machines. I was pleasantly surprised.
Rudely funny and gleefully violent, the film is a wound-up genre exercise that doesn’t dip even a toe into reality but is a good time if you can get past that.
...excellent action, generally good performances, and one or two genuine plot surprises.
Assault On Precinct 13 is the Tad Hamilton of 2005. What should be a forgettable genre release turns into a surprisingly watchable guilty pleasure
...attempts to update John Carpenter's 1976 no-nonsense drive-in classic--primarily by adding an enormous amount of nonsense.
Boring and tepid, it’s something best forgotten about. Which you will do within an hour of seeing it.
How can these guys survive? Come and see for yourself and witness a wild battle.
a film with as much tension as the original, but far more character-based drama and psychological depth
This was perhaps an attempt to open the story up, but it only manages to slow everything down while giving us a boring, one-dimensional bad guy.
..a cocksure, stylized, gutty thrill-ride very much in the tradition of star Ethan Hawke and producer Jeffrey Silver’s prior collaboration, Training Day..
The [movie's] visual signature ... is the sight of a bullet wound in the head - which, one imagines, might feel similar to the head-pounding felt after watching [it].
It is not effective as a suspense film. Aside from one or two sequences, it doesn't work at all.
delivers the action movie goods [thanks to] adroit pacing...[and] a cast of extremely capable actors.
If you need a quick fix of lots of noise, several crashes, numerous bullets- through-the-forehead close-ups, and a cast of slumming talents, run to your nearest Loews.
Latest News for Assault on Precinct 13
May 14, 2007:
Maria Bello to Replace Rachel Weisz in "Mummy 3"
A few weeks back I expressed some skepticism that Universal would re-cast Rachel Weisz's "Mummy" role with a new actress. Looks like I was wrong. More...
May 17, 2005:
Julie Delpy to Make Her Directorial Debut with "Bathory"
Actress/screenwriter Julie Delpy ("Before Sunset") will make her debut behind the camera with "Bathory," in which she'll be re-joining frequent co-star Ethan... More...
January 31, 2005:
Hide and Seek Scared Up $22M
The versatile Robert Deniro scored another hit with this weekend's horror release Hide and Seek, which scared up an estimated $22M over the weekend. Along with Meet The Fockers,... More...
January 29, 2005:
Friday Estimates: Hide and Seek $8.1M
According to Showbizdata, the versatile Robert Deniro scored another hit with this weekend's horror release Hide and Seek, which grossed $8.1M on Friday. It will likely gross... More...
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