Assault on Precinct 13
Classic John carpenter 70's siege flick gets a make over Let’s get it out in the open before we begin. I’m not entirely sure why, his plinky plinky music, and his oft low budget romps have cult written all over them. I’ll be the first to admit that some of his later offerings. Are crap, vampires is confused, ghosts of mars is …frankly awful, escape from LA was truly turgid. |
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However, in amongst all the crap we have a couple of gems hidden away which seem to fall off the radar almost as soon as they are released, such as the Mouth of Madness, They Live, Prince of Darkness , I could go on..
Because of this it was with apprehension that I settled down to watch the remake of assault on precinct 13 (yes I know that the original was a remake of Rio Bravo), I knew that the cast where not heavy hitters by any stretch of the imagination but their where all competent
Ethan hawk stars as the surly emotionally scarred desk jockey of a cop, who holds together a snow bound under siege police station against what he believes to be gang hoping to rescue its newest incarcerated Marion Bishop (played by Lawrence Fishburn). Bishop a notorious cop killer and crime lord is however the target of the attack by bent copper Duvall (Gabriel Burn).
A desperate attempt to defend the precinct ensues. And because of this, uneasy alliances are formed between the prisoners, the police and some unfortunate civilians caught in the snow storm.
The plot has a couple of twists and the premise of the original is given a very modern make over, with a truly nasty bad guy in the guise of Byrne( I actually shout ‘Jesus Christ I can't believe he did that’) and an nasty anti-hero in Fishburn.
The tension between the good, the bad and the ugly, is diminished by the stereotypical supporting cast, the old cop just waiting for retirement, the crack addicted, the jive talking ghetto girl and for some reason Hawkes therapist.
The film is well paced; the action sequences are intelligent and well executed, and apart from some of Brynnes idiotic side kicks, it is an infinitely watchable and entertaining film, though it does lack the charm of the original
I spelt Burnsses name wrong three time during this review
not bad going