Assaut sur le central 13

I hate movies that have potential and fall on their proverbial faces, and this movie came very close to biting the dust. The writing was blasé, the acting was blasé (although Laurence Fishborne was by far the least offensive), the directing was horrid ... it just wasn't done real well. The action was fine but nothing stupendous. A solid "C" if there was one ... and I have to say Ethan Hawke and Drea de Matteo really bit it with their quasi-acting in this movie - although I will have to say that I'm not sold that it was all the actor's fault, as a great deal of the wasted effort was definitely in the writing.

A solid rental. Not for box office.

A remake of John Carpenter's superior film of the same title from 1976, Assault on Precinct 13 concerns a siege on a largely abandoned police station, which is related to the presence of a notorious criminal, Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne). It's left up to a ragtag group of police employees and criminals to defend themselves.

I should start by noting that I absolutely love Carpenter's original film. In my view it is one of his best, perfectly capturing the suburban desolation of 1970s Los Angeles, and exquisitely suspenseful and horrifying, even though it's not really a horror film. Despite that, when this remake of Assault on Precinct 13 began, I had high hopes for it. The first scene is well directed, well shot, with excellent dialogue. It turns into an intense action scene at just the right moment, and results in some realistic, gritty deaths. The opening is as good as anything in the Carpenter film.

Unfortunately, Assault on Precinct 13's excellence ended right there. It's not exactly a bad film--I enjoyed it more often than not, but it does have more than its share of flaws. In the end, my rating average out to a 7 out of 10. Recommendable, but with reservations.

The first problem is that director Jean-Francois Richet tries to do too much--too much backstory, too many characters, too many over-the-top characters, too many quick cuts, too much shaky hand-held camera work, too many "big action moves", too many explosions, too many settings, and it's too dark. That the film is often so quickly edited and dark makes it too often difficult to see what's going on in the action scenes. Carpenter's film succeeded by being very taut, economical, sober and logical in its directorial style. Richet tries to one-up the original by forgoing all of those qualities. By the second or third scene, I was fairly confused. Superfluous characters were popping in and out, people were mumbling dialogue, and there was a whole complex backstory being hinted at and not spelled out very well.

The brutal shooting near the beginning of the original film, which sets off the whole sequence of events, was dropped--that thread was completely removed from the film. It was lamentable in that this new Assault loses much of the simple, sensible drive the thread provided, and it was surely a decision based on political correctness. Likewise, Bishop is not allowed to be a clear-cut bad guy here. That saps some of the effectiveness out of his cooperation. In this film, he might be mostly tough talk. The other criminals in the film are either left largely unexplained or guilty of only petty or consensual crimes. I find this kind of political correctness in films reprehensible, although I realize it's primarily a studio decision.

On the positive side, the villains here were cleverly conceived, and their nature makes them much more menacing physically. On the negative side, however, Richet lost the Night of the Living Dead (1968) zombie-like nature of the marauders, which saps suspense from the attacks. The logistics of the defense of the police station and details of their dilemma are not very clearly scripted or staged, either, which doesn't help. Another flaw is that some intruders seem to inexplicably hesitate. Another positive, though, is that Richet's film brings back a few small details, such as the capture of the criminal at the beginning of the film, and a substance addiction in one of the heroes leading to a character transformation, found in Rio Bravo (1959), the film that in conjunction with Night of the Living Dead, was the main inspiration for Carpenter's original film.

Also on the positive side, this Assault has a skilled (and much more well known) cast. Even though Richter occasionally directed them to be a bit too over-the-top, the performances hit many very interesting notes. And a few of the additions to the original film, such as a Mexican standoff and a couple later scenes outside the police station were excellent. The increased firepower here may also be to some viewer's liking.

A viewer less fond of the original, or even unfamiliar with the original, may like Assault better than I did. I may have even liked it better if the original were not so fresh in my memory (I just watched it again it recently--a review is forthcoming). There are enough redeeming aspects for action fans to make it worth at least a rental or a viewing on cable, but approach the film with lowered expectations.

The picture deals with an assassin (Laurence Fishburne) along with a group of delinquents (J.A Rule , John Leguizamo) are led to prison by security policemen (Kim Coates and Dorian Harewood) and during a snowstorm find shelter in a sleepy police station and almost locked out due to demolition . Precinct is commanded by a sergeant (Ethan Hawke) and there are an old police (Brian Dennehy) , a secretary (Drea De Matteo) and a psychologist (Maria Bello). Police station in ghetto district 13 is suddenly under siege and itself surrounded by violent gangmen heavily super-armed with technological weapons and helicopter . The opponents attackers sworn revenge about the murderer now inside the precinct 13 .

Film captures the special excitement or mood of paranoia that those under siege live for the night . Psychosis abounds when the policeman and prisoners are attacked from all sides and can see no way out making desperate tryings to flee . Film has maximum tension , noisy action , emotion and thriller from the subsequents attempts by the violent stalkers to enter in the station and the besieged to survive or getaway for prevention of the seemingly inevitable final . From the initiation of the movie to the end action-packed and suspense is unstopped . A very exciting storyline by James De Monaco though much-copied and superb casting make this one of the best thrillers made in that year . The picture is an adaptation of the semi-acclaimed John Carpenter film with the same title what also was a rendition of Howard Hawks's ¨Rio Bravo¨ and the remakes the ¨Dorado¨ and ¨Rio Lobo¨ ,that were developed in a besieged jail defended by a tough John Wayne and helped by a misfit bunch . Flick will appeal to action movies lovers . Rating : Above average.

I haven't seen Carpenter's original version but the remake seems like a very solid modern action crime/thriller with an interesting cast. Ethan Hawke may never be recognized as a great young actor by the vast majority of moviegoers but in my opinion he hasn't made a serious flop in his career so far.

The rest of the cast did equally well if not better at times. A special praise goes to Laurence Fishburne who gave the best performance in the movie.Overall the film has enough to offer to be considered worthy of a second view but it still lacks a few factors that could boost it further from the mass of similar movies.

...... 3/5 ......

Jean Richet's remake of the Carpenter thriller Assault on Precinct 13 is surprisingly entertaining. Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) loses the Carpenteresque weirdness and soundtrack, and tells the story of a remote, run-down police precinct under assault using more conventional cinematography and production. This is an achievement, but not because of the difficulty of following in the footsteps of Carpenter - because the film entertains without doing so, and because the narrative - just like all of Carpenter's films- manages to keep going without regard for the improbability of the plot. In other words, the Director kept a straight face and made the film entertaining enough to allow for a certain amount of suspended disbelief.

Strong, fast, characterization - part of the legacy of Carpenter's film - makes a big difference early on. The cast is uniformly excellent and the main characters - unusual for this genre - are all unique, believable and consistent. Fishburn plays a big bad guy incarcerated by fiat in the small, run-down Precinct 13. Hawke is the Sergeant in charge of the precinct - a man with psychological and drug problems associated with a traumatic event which opens the film. These two improbable allies must pool their resources to defend the precinct against... who?

The film is first and foremost an action film. The action is typical for the genre as of 2005 - i.e. - much of what takes place is only believable because of its entertainment value and internal consistently. Suspense is well constructed throughout the film, and the pace of the film reaches a frenetic level about 1/3rd of the way through, never letting up. The cinematography is surprisingly dissimilar to the original. Richet's film is more of a standard suspense thriller than anything bearing Carpenter's signature.

Recommended for its entertainment value, solid cast, and well-constructed (though somewhat ridiculous) plot.