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Assault on Precinct 13
On New Year's Eve, inside a police station that's about to be closed for good, officer Jake Roenick must cobble together a force made up cops and criminals to save themselves from a mob looking to kill mobster Marion Bishop.
Release : | 2005 |
Rating : | 6.3 |
Studio : | Rogue Pictures, Why Not Productions, Don Carmody Productions, |
Crew : | Art Department Coordinator, Art Direction, |
Cast : | Ethan Hawke Laurence Fishburne Gabriel Byrne Maria Bello Drea de Matteo |
Genre : | Adventure Drama Action Thriller Crime |
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Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Very well executed
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
If you were hoping for an avant-garde action movie produced by a Frenchman, think again - Richet is no Luc Besson.The actual action, by itself, is decent at most, and that's the only thing going for this movie.Actors performances are lackluster, screen writing is sloppy and lazy, suffering from lack of continuity and a formulaic plot, with twists so obvious, I foresaw them literally an hour before they eventually took place.Characters are superficial and stereotypical, and fail to promote empathy, sympathy, or any other sentiments for them. Decisions and actions made by the characters (both "good guys" and "bad guys") often fail to make any sense.
For some reason I never got around to watching "Assault on Precinct 13" until ten years after it was released. Why? Well, I can't claim to be overly much a fan of Ethan Hawke or Lawrence Fishburne. And it wasn't until I saw it shown on TV that I actually sat down to watch this movie.There are some pretty good talents on the cast list aside from Ethan Hawke and Lawrence Fishburne; talents that include John Leguizamo, Brian Dennehy and Gabriel Byrne. I actually didn't know that John Leguizamo was in this movie before seeing him, and he alone would make it worthwhile watching.There certainly was a lot of violence throughout the movie, which does spice up the enjoyment of the movie quite a lot.And while the story was leaning towards being fairly shallow and simplistic, then some good acting performances and the action did more than weigh up for the lack of storyline.All in all, an alright crime action movie. It doesn't put your mind on any challenge, but it is still an enjoyable movie.
The first Carpenter remake released in 05, the year of the Carpenter remakes. Amazingly this isn't a shot for shot remake but actually a reasonable attempt at something slightly different. Must give kudos to the script writer/s for trying a new angle with the plot to add a touch of originality.Its pretty much the same type of film as before accept this time the cops and crooks holed up within Precinct 13 are against crooked cops who want one of the convicts inside dead. Nice twist.You don't really expect that to be honest, I just expected the same old thing with a load of gang thugs but this adds a new dimension. The fact its a whole team of crooked cops led by the nasty Byrne is really good. Bryne merely stands around and sneers a lot ordering his men to do stuff, but his presence really boosts the bad guys, faceless no more.The good guys are now of course a group of big names but the choices are OK. Hawke is the Sgt in charge of the station and Dennehy is the clichéd fat old moustached vet cop, whilst Fishburne leads the bad guys with Leguizamo doing another good twitchy gun nut.On one hand this is a fun film, plenty of decent action, pretty violent, good visuals and good performances from the main leads. On the other hand it does get silly in places, very predictable of course and feels like they are trying too hard. I did wonder if they were having a swearing competition throughout, how many times can you say 'f*ck'!?, as if that will make the film better saying it a hundred times.The main issue is the simple plot point of a small group of convicts and beat cops up against a crack team of elite cops. Not just dumbass thugs but fully suited special ops type guys, yet they can't seem to crack this band of misfits, all of them end up getting killed! so much for elite cops huh.This is a fairly decent action romp I can't deny, stupid in places and with a slightly lame finale but its fun to watch. A slightly different beast to the original which is good but at the same time you lose the mystery and suspense of the original. The unknown lurking shadows in the bushes of the originals bad guys.There is a lot of stuff which has been tossed in here to flesh the whole thing out a bit more. Trying to make the film feel more of a serious Hollywood action thriller but its all pointless and not required, the beginning sequence especially. Think of this as a venture into 'Die Hard 2' territory, snow included. 6/10
An update of the Carpenter classic, which itself was an update of Rio Bravo, the film is slightly different, this has more to do with police corruption, rather than a gang getting revenge.It's a slightly different film for Hawke to be in, he must have been funding something, but he really excels in this movie.There is some sort of back story involving Hawke and a NARC style opening, but that just sets the mood for the rest of the film, showing that Hawkes Character is weak, thus making the group vulnerable.Then we have Fishburne as the 'bad' guy. He is all swagger in this and very little else. It's as if he's saying 'I was just in three of the biggest science fiction films of the last ten years which were not Star Wars and don't you forget it!!!'.Byrne is wasted, looking moody and cold. Th rest of the cast are okay, especially Bello, who does convince as a 'shrink'.But what is most striking about the film is how brutal and relentless the film is. No one is safe, and the director doesn't flinch when disposing of characters (Bello the most significant), and this makes the film a little more urgent.It's nothing special, not a patch on the original, and Fishbourne becomes annoying toward the end, but for a little standalone action movie, it passes the time, and the brutality makes it deeply unsettling.