Assault On Precinct 13

I first saw the original Assault On Precinct 13, by John Carpenter, many years ago, and loved it. I loved it for many reasons, including the fact that the little girl from Disney's Escape From Witch Mountain gets shot in the chest in point blank range right through her vanilla ice cream cone. The original Assault took its time (as so many of those 70s "action" movies do), and when the action finally got going, it was great.

I rented the remake, intrigued with the good reviews and the changes made to the story. While the original took place in LA, with a brutal, 1970s multi-cultural gang laying siege to the closing Precinct, this new one takes place on New Year's Eve in Detroit, during a raging blizzard. The gang is gone, replaced by rogue cops.

The premise is this: Ethan Hawke stars as the sergeant in charge of Precinct 13. 13 is closing its doors for good at midnight. There is a skeleton crew, including a retiring cop (Brian Dennehy) and a slutty receptionist (Drea de Matteo). Lawrence Fishburne is a bad ass cop killer that has been arrested, and can name up to 35 cops on his payroll, including a bigshot cop, played by Gabriel Byrne. While transporting Fishburne and some other convicts to jail, the bus is diverted to Precinct 13 due to an accident that closed the road. (By the way, a lot of critics complained that, because of this unexpected diversion, the bad cops would never have been able carry out their plans. I say, "Rubbish." It seems clear to me that the bad cops were the ones who diverted the bus to 13 by falsely reporting the accident. Pay attention, people!)

This movie was great. I loved it. I now OWN it. The acting is impeccable. The backstory to Ethan's character is great. Maria Bello is solid as Ethan's therapist, unfortunately stuck in 13, and the subsequent assault, due to the blizzard. John Leguizamo is fantastic as the junkie convict.

Most surprisingly, there are unexpected moments during the film which are not your typical standard fare in action movies. It's better than the original. It takes the original's idea, and creates characters for whom you care. Well, "care" may not be the right word. "Find interesting" is perhaps more like it. The changes to the story are appropriate. It's a really good film. Plus, as an added bonus, there are a lot of people that get shot in the head.