Fans of director John Carpenter are in turmoil. First off, they saw the franchise he began, HALLOWEEN, turned over to various directors who made some decent and some not so decent films. Now they are preparing for a remake of his horror film THE FOG. And somewhere in between this movie, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, became a remake. And we all know what fans of original films think of remakes.
As a fan of Carpenter, I decided never to be this way. I always approach a movie with an open mind. Granted, many remakes omit every single shred of story that make an original work, relying more on their “own interpretation” which is Hollywood speak for yeah we kept the name to cash in on it but made a totally different movie. But you have to give someone credit for at least trying to get it right. And that happens here.
Original? A precinct house is closing, staffed by few people, no phones or radios, when suddenly a gang who has recently acquired assault weapons attacks. In the midst of this, a prison bus shows up with a sick prisoner and a mass murderer on board. While under attack, cops and crooks join forces to stay alive. More or less a remake itself of RIO BRAVO in some eyes.
This time around the basis is kept intact but the loose threads are rewoven. Rather than taking place in LA in the summer, this movie takes place in Detroit in the midst of one of the worst blizzards of recent memory. Does this affect the story? Simply put, no. The mass murderer is replaced with a cool and calculating killer in the form of Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne), a street gangster with blood on his hands who has been captured after killing an undercover policeman and is not on his way to jail.
Along the way, the blizzard forces the prison bus to reroute to Precinct 13, a precinct closing down to make way for the new stationhouse. Staffed by flirtatious secretary Iris (Drea de Matteo) and retiring grizzled old cop Jasper O’Shea (Brian Dennehy). The precinct is headed up by Sgt. Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke), an ex undercover cop who we watched lose his team at the films beginning. Stuck in a desk job while recuperating from wounds gained in that battle, Roenick has more psychological than physical wounds.
Into the station comes Roenick’s department ordered shrink, Alex Sabain (Maria Bello). The two banter about, he lifts his file and she leaves only to return a short time later, stranded due to the blizzard. And then it happens.
This misplaced group finds itself under attack from outside forces that sneak in with the intent of killing Bishop. Along with his co-prisoners Smiley (Ja Rule), Anna (Aisha Hinds), and strung out Beck (John Leguizamo), Bishop sits stranded in his cell while the killers walk the halls. Stopped by one of the guards, who is then killed, the assassins regroup and begin their siege of the precinct.
Who is this group out to stop Bishop? Is it his gang like Jasper claims? Or someone else? If you’ve seen the previews on this one then you already know that the killers are a group of special forces cops who were in league with Bishop and need to silence him before he has the chance to talk and sink them all. Led by Marcus Duvall (Gabriel Byrne), they will stop at nothing until Bishop and all witnesses are dead.
As the night moves on, the attacks continue and the defenders inside the precinct unite to ward off their assailants. One by one, and in a fashion that actually surprises in its choices, this band is whittled down until it seems that no one will survive and there will be no escape. But hey, this is a movie and things like that never happen.
The movie is filled with tons of action, the sort that most fans of the genre are looking for in films like these. But for those fans, they get more than they bargained for in the performances of the lead AND supporting actors. And the story all makes sense and ties every loose end together leaving nothing hanging (save for the ending in a good way).
This movie may not be John Carpenter’s ASSAULT. But it turns out to be a fast paced, well made action film in its own right. And if that’s what you’re looking for, then you won’t do better than this one at the box office right now.
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