Rating: ** 1/2 out of ****
A lot of people will likely hate this movie by virtue of the fact that it's a remake. Being open-minded, I'm not offended by the thought of a beloved cult classic getting a Hollywood remake; it is, after all, quite interesting to see how the big-budget treatment affects the same premise. In this case, the result is not too shabby at all, certainly better than the ads would indicate, even if this is a remake that doesn't stand on its own nearly as well as Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead.
Assault on Precinct 13 (referred to as AP13 from here on out) stars Ethan Hawke as cop Jake Roenick, a former undercover officer who's now strictly on desk duty after a horrible mishap that resulted in the deaths of two fellow officers. It's his last day (coincidentally also New Year's Eve) in Precinct 13, and he's simply overseeing the transfer along with another cop (Brian Dennehy) and a secretary (Drea de Matteo).
Due to the snowy conditions, a prison bus transferring dangerous cop-killer Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne) is forced to take refuge in Precinct 13. But it becomes clear soon enough that there are a large number of corrupt cops surrounding the precinct, determined to kill Bishop and every possible witness inside. Faced with no other options, Roenick frees and arms the prisoners, using whatever means necessary to battle against the far more numerous and better armed enemy.
John Carpenter's 1976 cult hit was a fairly effective thriller, maintaining an atmospheric claustrophobia that balanced nicely with the well-choreographed shootouts. Though there are many differences between these versions, both plot-wise and stylistically, this remake essentially opts for the same brand of edge-of-the-seat excitement, but as is par for this generation's offerings, the action sequences are pumped up with a lot more firepower and a lot less plausibility.
As silly as Carpenter's film may have seemed to the discriminating viewer, it was a smartly plotted thriller with only a few minor holes. This remake, on the other hand, is riddled with all sorts of logical inconsistencies. The most obvious one? In less than a day, the head of the corrupt team of cops (played by Gabriel Byrne) is somehow able to assemble his men on very short notice and arm them with top-notch weaponry that must have been hell to sign out from the armory (he even calls in a chopper at one point). And as the body count significantly rises, one has to wonder how he plans to cover up the massive blood shed (blaming it on Bishop's men doesn't quite explain how his own men were killed or what they were doing at the precinct).
The body count is almost bafflingly low considering the numbers mentioned (Byrne says he's got 33 men, hard to believe corruption could spread to every one of them); I could swear fewer characters were killed than were even involved in the entire film. Other problems include a scene where Byrne chooses to execute a survivor rather than use this person as a bargaining chip, and as the number of survivors within the station dwindles down, one character conveniently remembers an escape route just as the building's about to be invaded.
The climax, a disappointingly rote cat-and-mouse chase, is set in a forest apparently right by the station, but I could have sworn an overhead shot established the precinct in an entirely urban section of Detroit. Along with the sagging pace in the second half, predictability also hampers the suspense, it's too easy to figure out who's going to die and in what order. The identity of the traitor is also another easy guess, considering the very tiny list of suspects still around by that point.
For all these nagging flaws, the film is still worth mildly recommending for one lengthy, high-octane action setpiece. The first major invasion of the precinct is a thrilling sequence, every bit the equal of the similar siege in the original, though louder and faster-paced. The action even boasts a little bit of strategy and some mild thought. Other action scenes are competently handled, but lack the claustrophobic edge of the shootouts set within the precinct.
The cast is mostly first-rate, even Ethan Hawke, who usually does little more than coast by on his best Tom Cruise impersonation. Laurence Fishburne, channeling a darker version of Morpheus, does well with what little material he has to work with, and it's fun to see Brian Dennehy barking up a storm again. Of the two female leads, Maria Bello is the one with more "depth," but she's almost fatally annoying as the whiny psychologist. Drea de Matteo, on the other hand, is one of those rare women who somehow still looks sexy even when she's dressed as a hooker (or is she sexy because she's dressed that way?). Gabriel Byrne makes a solid impression despite the limited screen time, and Ja Rule and John Leguizamo are apparently only on hand to provide some truly lame comic relief and take equal turns participating in one very gruesome beating.
AP13 came very close to getting a two-star rating from me, but in this day and age when action films need sci-fi, fantasy or horror elements to succeed, there's no denying this film is better than the usual lot churned from Hollywood. This remake is an earnest attempt in crafting an edge-of-the-seat thriller and even if it only gets halfway there, that's still better than most pure action movies these days.
A lot of people will likely hate this movie by virtue of the fact that it's a remake. Being open-minded, I'm not offended by the thought of a beloved cult classic getting a Hollywood remake; it is, after all, quite interesting to see how the big-budget treatment affects the same premise. In this case, the result is not too shabby at all, certainly better than the ads would indicate, even if this is a remake that doesn't stand on its own nearly as well as Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead.
Assault on Precinct 13 (referred to as AP13 from here on out) stars Ethan Hawke as cop Jake Roenick, a former undercover officer who's now strictly on desk duty after a horrible mishap that resulted in the deaths of two fellow officers. It's his last day (coincidentally also New Year's Eve) in Precinct 13, and he's simply overseeing the transfer along with another cop (Brian Dennehy) and a secretary (Drea de Matteo).
Due to the snowy conditions, a prison bus transferring dangerous cop-killer Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne) is forced to take refuge in Precinct 13. But it becomes clear soon enough that there are a large number of corrupt cops surrounding the precinct, determined to kill Bishop and every possible witness inside. Faced with no other options, Roenick frees and arms the prisoners, using whatever means necessary to battle against the far more numerous and better armed enemy.
John Carpenter's 1976 cult hit was a fairly effective thriller, maintaining an atmospheric claustrophobia that balanced nicely with the well-choreographed shootouts. Though there are many differences between these versions, both plot-wise and stylistically, this remake essentially opts for the same brand of edge-of-the-seat excitement, but as is par for this generation's offerings, the action sequences are pumped up with a lot more firepower and a lot less plausibility.
As silly as Carpenter's film may have seemed to the discriminating viewer, it was a smartly plotted thriller with only a few minor holes. This remake, on the other hand, is riddled with all sorts of logical inconsistencies. The most obvious one? In less than a day, the head of the corrupt team of cops (played by Gabriel Byrne) is somehow able to assemble his men on very short notice and arm them with top-notch weaponry that must have been hell to sign out from the armory (he even calls in a chopper at one point). And as the body count significantly rises, one has to wonder how he plans to cover up the massive blood shed (blaming it on Bishop's men doesn't quite explain how his own men were killed or what they were doing at the precinct).
The body count is almost bafflingly low considering the numbers mentioned (Byrne says he's got 33 men, hard to believe corruption could spread to every one of them); I could swear fewer characters were killed than were even involved in the entire film. Other problems include a scene where Byrne chooses to execute a survivor rather than use this person as a bargaining chip, and as the number of survivors within the station dwindles down, one character conveniently remembers an escape route just as the building's about to be invaded.
The climax, a disappointingly rote cat-and-mouse chase, is set in a forest apparently right by the station, but I could have sworn an overhead shot established the precinct in an entirely urban section of Detroit. Along with the sagging pace in the second half, predictability also hampers the suspense, it's too easy to figure out who's going to die and in what order. The identity of the traitor is also another easy guess, considering the very tiny list of suspects still around by that point.
For all these nagging flaws, the film is still worth mildly recommending for one lengthy, high-octane action setpiece. The first major invasion of the precinct is a thrilling sequence, every bit the equal of the similar siege in the original, though louder and faster-paced. The action even boasts a little bit of strategy and some mild thought. Other action scenes are competently handled, but lack the claustrophobic edge of the shootouts set within the precinct.
The cast is mostly first-rate, even Ethan Hawke, who usually does little more than coast by on his best Tom Cruise impersonation. Laurence Fishburne, channeling a darker version of Morpheus, does well with what little material he has to work with, and it's fun to see Brian Dennehy barking up a storm again. Of the two female leads, Maria Bello is the one with more "depth," but she's almost fatally annoying as the whiny psychologist. Drea de Matteo, on the other hand, is one of those rare women who somehow still looks sexy even when she's dressed as a hooker (or is she sexy because she's dressed that way?). Gabriel Byrne makes a solid impression despite the limited screen time, and Ja Rule and John Leguizamo are apparently only on hand to provide some truly lame comic relief and take equal turns participating in one very gruesome beating.
AP13 came very close to getting a two-star rating from me, but in this day and age when action films need sci-fi, fantasy or horror elements to succeed, there's no denying this film is better than the usual lot churned from Hollywood. This remake is an earnest attempt in crafting an edge-of-the-seat thriller and even if it only gets halfway there, that's still better than most pure action movies these days.