Assault on Precinct 13
Director: Jean-Francois Richet
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, John Leguizamo, Drea de Matteo, and Maria Bello
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crime/Gangster and Remake
Duration: 1 hr. 49 min.
Rated: R for strong violence, language and drug content.
Plot: With only a few hours left in the calendar year, Precinct 13, one of Detroit’s oldest precinct houses, is closing amidst a heavy winter storm. Sergeant Jake Roenick, a good cop wrestling with bad memories of a fatal undercover ‘op’, must protect crime lord Marion Bishop from dirty cops who’d rather seem him dead than talking in court. Greatly outnumbered Roenick is forced to arm his prisoners, including Bishop, and fight off the assault on his precinct with few weapons, choices, or hope.

My review: Assault on Precinct 13 is a remake of the 1976 original by the same name. Having seen only the remake I’m not really sure what the producers thought they could add to the story besides better gun fights in a modern movie. There isn’t much to redeem this movie as it goes from one predictable, flat scene to the next in this formulaic approach to movie making. Ethan Hawke has been so hit or miss over his career and since his work in Training Day he hasn’t had anything to note worthy, this Assault included. Laurence Fishburne comes across as a Matrix-less Morpheus all over with his sunglass clad, long coat, and gun toting character. Maria Bello and Drea de Matteo both play their roles well as supporting cast, but when the movie is one long gun battle and there are only a few shots between the two of them they don’t get the chance to add a lot.

Mixing a mediocre cast with a poor story isn’t going to help things either. The whole story of arming prisoners and standing up to greatly outnumbering attackers is laughable and just doesn’t work. The repeated scenes of cops hating on criminals and more scenes of the returned hate gets tiresome. However, while the story is weak you can take solace in the constant flow of brass through the air. There are lots and lots of weapons with tons of shootouts and plenty of things blowing up throughout the movie.

Sadly, the kabooms and bang-bangs are all this movie is really able to offer up to its audience. You won’t be surprised by the story or intrigued to find out more about the characters. If you’re a fan of over-extended dead bodies shots then you’re in luck. The director seemed to be greatly pleased with his crew’s ability to create realistic looking gunshot wounds to the head because you’re treated to plenty of them.

If you’re looking for an interesting movie then Assault on Precinct 13 isn’t for you. If, instead, you just want lots of explosions, bullets whizzing past your head, and piles of bodies then this is the action movie for you. Sit back, relax, and take a brain vacation.

My rating: 2/5 stars
High point: Lots of gun battles
Low point: Limited story and too predictable

Assault on Precinct 13 Movie Trailer:

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