The Assault

The Assault (1996)

*** (out of 4)

Female cop Stacy (Stacie Randall) takes a woman to a shelter after she witnessed her boyfriend murdered by a drug cartel. Pretty soon the cartel tracks the woman down and begins an attack on the shelter so Stacy and the rest of the ladies must put up a fight to keep them out.

This low-budget action picture from Jim Wynorski is obviously a take off on ASSAULT FROM PRECINCT 13, which of course was a take off on John Wayne's RIO BRAVO. If you're looking for a big-budget action movie then you're certainly coming to the wrong place and if you're wanting some sort of art film, well, that's not this movie. With that being said, if you're looking for an action movie that has non-stop violence then you're certainly at the right movie.

What I liked the most about this picture is that it makes up for the low-budget by making sure there are countless death scenes. In fact, I really do wonder if this film has one of the highest body counts in film history because the entire premise of the film basically has tons of men running out of the woods to attack the house and of course they are constantly being shot up. The film is rated PG-13 so don't expect a bunch of gore but the non-stop piles of bodies falling was a lot of fun.

Wynorski certainly keeps the film moving at a very good pace and there's no question that he does a very good job with the film. It also helps that the cast is a lot of fun and that includes Randall who does a nice job carrying the film. There are a lot of familiar faces in the supporting parts including Matt McCoy (THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE), Melissa Brasselle (various Wynorski films), Leo Rossi (HALLOWEEN II), Peter Spellos (SORORITY HOUSE MASSACRE II) and Toni Naples (HARD TO DIE). The fun cast certainly helps keep the viewer entertained.

THE ASSAULT isn't a masterpiece but for a low-budget action film it is about as fun as you're going to get.

Sure, it's highly derivative of "Assault On Precinct 13", but that was pretty derivative of "Rio Bravo..." Not to say this is as good as that, but it's aim is a little lower -- it wants to give you 85 minutes or so of fast-paced mayhem populated with beatiful women, and it works! The lead detective, Stacey Randall, is well-directed and really cute, and her give-and-take with partner Leo Rossi (a talented character actor) works well, adding weight to key plot developments. Don't get me wrong, it's completely silly -- but you can watch the whole thing with a smile on your face, especially when the women go in the basement of the house they're trapped in and it looks twice as large as the house itself -- but the assault sequences, while unrealistic, are well-edited and involving. For genre fans, worth a look, and another reminder that when Wynorski's on his game he makes flicks right up there with the best of the 70's Cormans made by Dante, etc.

"The assault" is just a clumsy rip-off of Carpenter's major work "Assault at Precinct 13". The good action and suspense scenes are xerox copies of the corresponding ones in Carpenter's film. An amount of irrelevant stuff is added at the beginning of the movie.

Anyway, "The assault" could be entertaining. To see tough and (more or less) attractive women shooting down dozens of bad guys is always funny. Needless to say, such a situation contains a remarkable erotic tinge. Personally, I'd have preferred to have no man at all among the defenders of the besieged house. The love story between the female cop and the ex-marine guy is a major weakness of the film. The movie contains a remarkable lot of politically correct feminism. I bet the director Wynorski thought: "I'll get no much credit in making this minor B movie: at least, let's avoid troubles with the feminists".

Flaws and absurdities are spread along the movie. A main one: the Zombi-like way the bad ones attack the house (and are killed). That was justified in Carpenter's film, since there we had a gang of wholly drugged, death-devoted, crazy fanatics. Here we have a mob of professional criminals: I don't see why they should be desirous to be killed so stupidly. The job by the cast is so and so, but could be worse. And the female characters are nice.

After all, if you happen to meet "The assault", you may even avoid to switch your TV off.