Review: Assault on Precinct 13

It's a snowy New Years Eve in Detroit when we catch up with Jake Roenick 
(Ethan Hawke), an ex-undercover detective who's in a bad place after a sting 
operation went to hell a few months earlier killing his entire team. Jake is
the man in charge of Precinct 13 on its last day of operation before it closes
its doors.  Everything seems fine as Jake and his small staff of cops and his
sexy sex starved secretary Iris (Drea de Matteo) prepare to ring in the New
Year. That is until a little before midnight when they get a call telling them
that a busload of prisoners is being diverted there due to the storm. The
transport is carrying Marion Bishop ('Larry' Fishburn as he likes to be called)
a purported "gangster" who's also a cop killer and general bad-ass. As it turns
out the cop that Marion killed was dirty, so is the rest of his team - lead by
Marcus Duvall (Byrne) and they canÕt let Marion live to tell his tale. The Boy
Scout Roenick won't have it and decides to defend Bishop, and in the end all
of their lives, no matter what. Let the fun begin!

You can't go wrong with John Carpenter. Even a movie that's just based on one 
of his is going to be better than most of the sludge that's out there today. 
It was relieving to see that DeMonaco (who wrote the screenplay) and the 
director Francois Richet kept many of Carpenter's patented movie elements in
place for this film. First and foremost is that in this film nobody - NOBODY -
is safe.  Anyone and everyone can and does get killed. This may be billed as
an Action film but when you see John CarpenterÕs name you have to set your 
Atrocity-o-meter to Horror. 

The acting in this film is great, really better than you would expect from an
action flick. Roenick's addicted to painkillers and is in love with his 
psychiatrist and the obsessive compulsive Alex Sabian (Maria Bello). Great
quirky characterizations from Leguizamo playing a meth-head and Ja Rule as
"Smiley" a petty crook who has a tendency to speak in the third person. The
only one in the whole crew who could pass for sane is Fishburn's character
Marion Bishop.  

This film was generally funny and a lot of fun. There was one little scene
that sucked the air out of the entire theater as we all wondered "Can they
really do that?" - They did - so be prepared. On a scale of one to five, I'd
have to give it a score of Pi, pretty good, but wonÕt be changing the course 
of the Nile any time soon.

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, Gabriel Byrne, Ja Rule, John 
Leguizamo, Maria Bello and Brian Dennehy
By: Jean-Francois Richet
Rated: R (violence, language)
Assault on Precinct 13 opens Wednesday January 19th

Dave can be reached at dkerr@detroitbuzz.com