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Assault on Precinct 13 (Widescreen Edition)
Assault on Precinct 13
Widescreen Edition
Actors: Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, Gabriel Byrne, Maria Bello, Drea De Matteo
Director: Jean-François Richet
Genres: Action & Adventure, Drama, Mystery & Suspense
R     2005     1hr 49min

A POLICE SERGEANT MUST RALLY THE COPS AND PRISONERS TOGETHER TO PROTECT THEMSELVES ON NEW YEAR'S EVE, JUST AS CORRUPT POLICEMAN SURROUND THE STATION WITH THE INTENT OF KILLING ALL TO KEEP THEIR DECEPTION IN THE RANKS.
     
     

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Movie Details

Actors: Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, Gabriel Byrne, Maria Bello, Drea De Matteo
Director: Jean-François Richet
Creators: Don Carmody, James DeMonaco, Jeffrey Silver, Joseph Kaufman, Pascal Caucheteux, John Carpenter
Genres: Action & Adventure, Drama, Mystery & Suspense
Sub-Genres: Crime, Drama, Mystery & Suspense
Studio: Universal Studios
Format: DVD - Color,Widescreen - Dubbed,Subtitled
DVD Release Date: 05/10/2005
Original Release Date: 01/19/2005
Theatrical Release Date: 01/19/2005
Release Year: 2005
Run Time: 1hr 49min
Screens: Color,Widescreen
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Total Copies: 17
Members Wishing: 0
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Languages: English, Serbo-Croatian, French
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
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Member Movie Reviews

Jim M. from WEST GLOVER, VT
Reviewed on 10/19/2022...
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) is a pretty good low-budget action movie, although John Carpenter describes it as very slow, and most viewers would agree. It certainly does have its slow-moving parts, but is still a good movie. There are few surprises or little suspense. The acting isn’t bad, but not great either. It sort of does have the feel of a Western-type, Howard Hawks movie. The plot is that three convicted felons are being transported to another prison, but due to one being sick, they have to stop at a defunct police station manned by one cop and two civilian. They are attacked by a seriously large street gang seeking revenge on another civilian who sought refuge in the building.
Kathy H. (kate54) from SAINT LOUIS, MO
Reviewed on 7/31/2015...
The movie was great. Loved it. Like all the characters.
1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.
Keith A. (Keefer522)
Reviewed on 6/1/2013...
In this update of John Carpenter's 70s action classic, it's a stormy New Year's Eve in Detroit and a run down police precinct slated to be closed for good in the morning comes under siege from a crew of corrupt cops -- they want to kill a prisoner held in the precinct's cell block before he can blow the whistle on all of them in court. The small skeleton crew of "good" cops inside, plus a few other hangers-on and suspects, must band together to hold the fort against'em.

Haven't seen the original "Assault" since I was a kid so I honestly can't say how this remake compares, but I enjoyed this one. Not a mind blower or a classic for the ages, but simply a good, suspenseful, shoot'em up/blow'em up flick.

I can take or leave Ethan Hawke as the troubled hero, but Laurence Fishburne was bad-ass as the "original gangsta" who's the hit squad's target and Drea DeMatteo of the "Sopranos," as the precinct's slutty secretary, looks nice in fishnet stockingss and a short skirt. :)
1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.
Jason C. (JJC) from NEWARK, NJ
Reviewed on 12/14/2007...
Remake after remake...they just keep on coming. But this time, it's a remake of one of my personal favorite flicks, directed by the great John Carpenter. However, it is my duty to inform you that this remake is actually very good, BUT doesn't compare to its classic predecessor. Although maybe I'm just a bit bias.

Like recent remakes, "Assault on Precinct 13" is a 'reworking' of its previous story.

Our hero cop this time is Sgt. Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke), an undercover cop who was demoted to desk duty due to a drug-bust gone wrong which involved the deaths of two of his fellow officers. Eight months after the incident we find out that Roenick has been the head officer at Detroit's rundown Precinct 13, due to be closed at Midnight, New Year's Day.

It's December 31st and our hero villain, head gangster Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne), has been captured by the police due to his murdering of a corrupt cop. Marcus Duvall (Gabriel Byrne), is the head of a special police unit that wants nothing more but to see Bishop dead or in his custody (same difference).

Meanwhile Roenick's skeleton crew, which consists of veteran cop Jasper O'Shea (Brian Dennehy) and sexy secretary Iris Ferry (Drea de Matteo), all look forward to a slow and drunken night to celebrate the coming of the New Year and the closing of the almost abandoned precinct. However, Roenick has one scheduled visitor, Dr. Alex Sabian (Maria Bello), a psychologist analyzing Roenick for his drug-bust disaster.

Bishop, along with two-bit criminals Beck (John Leguizamo), Anna (Aisha Hinds) and Smiley (Ja Rule), board a bus to be transferred to a security prison, but a huge snow-storm (great story move) delays this action and they are forced to wait out the night at Precinct 13, much to Roenick's dismay. After this is quietly and unofficially supervised by Duvall, an all-out siege is conducted on the precinct, manned by Duvall's special police unit. Roenick realizes that these hombres are after Bishop but also won't give up until everyone in the joint is dead. So, the cops and criminals and guests all team together in an effort to stop Duvall's assault on Precinct 13.

That's pretty much it, and pretty damn good it is. French director Jean-François Richet brings us a dark and gritty action flick here. Solid, edgy and pretty straight to the point...elements needed in a shoot 'em up police actioner. Well shot and well edited I might add.

Carpenter's "13" is a balls out cult-actioner from the 70s that has that certain charm to it, and can never be matched: the groundbreaking use of silencers, the characters (especially Darwin Joston's Napoleon Wilson), the famous Carpenter music and the classic dialogue ("Anyone gotta smoke?"). This "13" measures as a solid, police action-thriller, nowhere near as serious or great as "The French Connection" or "L.A. Confidential", but damn finer than most cop thrillers of today.

I had fun!
2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.

Movie Reviews

A genre film with style and substance.
D. Knouse | vancouver, washington United States | 06/29/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Going in I was expecting an Action film with two-dimensional characters and loads of gunfire caught on film with shaky camera shots to make them seem more violent than they already are. Instead of adhering to conventional 'Action' film nonsense and one-liners, however, the makers of this film have created a story where the characters are either likeable or interesting to watch and the violence is both realistic and often incredibly brutal. There are some cliche' plot twists that appear at the expected times, but to the credit of these storytellers they do not dwell on them as if the audience should somehow be wowed or shocked by the revelation(s). Thus any predictability is overshadowed by quicksilver action sequences or character-driven moments that are equally intense. This film has a strong cast of actors led by a very capable director and a fantastic production staff that give this film more style and substance than is typical of the genre. The photography is excellent and elevates the look of this movie to a highly professional level, as do all the technical aspects such as stuntwork and gunfire during the many firefights. The action is bloody, to put it mildly, with some gruesome kills that made even a seasoned Action film fan like myself cringe and wince. What I especially love about this film and with very few other Action flicks is that all the characters either get hurt or mortally wounded at some point during the story. No one escapes unscathed. In most other Action movies it gets ridiculous to see characters running through a swarm of bullets and not getting hit; for that alone, "Assault on Precinct 13" should be raised above the average Action film fare and revered for its exceptional use of violence as a means to an end rather than as a flashy way in which to deceive an audience into forgiving a film for falling flat during the quieter moments. Both Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburn lead the way with their star-power and the rest of the cast rally around them to help the viewers care about each and every one of them. This film is a pleasant surprise and a solid addition to the Action film genre. Thank you."
But, there was so much potential!
Rob | New York | 06/21/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)

"I'll cut to the chase. It's a decent flick with a few really kick a$$ scenes that COULD have been MUCH better, but as it is, it's only barely worth a rental. Certainly its not worth a purchase. Why? Read on.

1. Apparently, many people in the flick are AMAZING shots. During the flick, not less than people get killed with perfect headshots ranging in distances from 150+ feet away to point-blank range. Every one winds up with their eyes wide open and a neat little hole in their head (even when some of the ammunition used would have made their heads explode like melons if they took a shot like that). From .50 cals to .9mm, it doesn't matter.

2. Alternatively, the same people who get amazing headshots in once scene are the same people who couldn't hit the side of a barn with a shotgun in the next scene. In one part, there are four people, standing perfectly still firing full automatics at one another from a distance of about 12 feet, and not only does no one get killed, no one even takes a hit! What?

3. Lawrence Fishburne is essentially Morpheus again. As soon as he started talking I was like "you gotta be kidding me, right?" Same "cool" mannerisms, same tone of voice, same inflections, same quasi-religious comments, its almost comical. I was wondering when he was going to start talking about Neo.

4. Speaking of which, its interesting that apparently Mr. Fishburnes character is this incredibly powerful gangster, yet no one from his organization seems to care when he's arrested, taken into custody, or anything. For such a dangerous man, he certainly seems to have to deal with the situation completely on his own. There isn't even a hint that anyone from his gang cares at all that he's been taken away.

5. There is one scene where the bad guys flood the building with laser scopes. I assume that each laser sight is attached to a rifle or machine pistol, right? So what happened to all of them? There were like 30! Did they all just go home after that scene?

6. The "bad guys" obviously just want to kill everyone in the precinct. There is no indication that they want ANYONE alive. So if that's the case, why do they ONLY rely on flash grenades? At least twice they chucked flash-bangs at the main characters and successfully blinded them, when a simple grenade would have taken them all out.

Maybe I'm being too cynical, but when I watch movies like this, it makes me wonder how stupid the director thinks the audience is. We have to suspend disbelief to a certain degree, but when a movie makes you go "Oh, PLEASE! Is this a joke?" more than a few times, you know they went wrong somewhere.
"
Second Assault
J. A. Bellamy | Dallas, TX USA | 02/06/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)

"Assault on Precinct 13 ('05) compares with Assault on Precinct 13 ('76) only in concept. The former is a big budget, star-studded, cop drama while the latter is a lower budget, gritty, near remake of Night of the Living Dead using gang members in place of zombies. While the old John Carpenter film might loose certain viewers due to its slow, deliberate pacing, it has remained a classic because of its many layers and subtext. For the new Richet version, a dramatic cop vs. gang boss plot has been stamped in and all layers, subtext, and richness tossed out. However, the stamped in plot is pretty well put together, with its weakest most forgettable moment installed as a preface (haven't filmmakers realized that prefaces and flashbacks almost always signal a script problem?). The preface serves as bad character motivation for Ethan Hawke's Sergeant Roenick. Go get your popcorn after the opening previews and miss the `undercover blues' setup as to why Roenick turns into a pill-popping loser only to save the day by the end. That aside, the film works as an action romp. The shoot-outs are good, tension always fills the air, and there are even a few zombie references: the bad guys take multiple hits and just keep coming, they are all suited in such a way as to be stripped of individuality, and some of the gorier kills hearken back to the Romero classics. Byrne and Freeman are fun to watch, as both take their roles coolly, using smallness rather than the over the top bigness that Hawke uses (not that effectively). John Leguizamo and Ja Rule play throw away characters, and that's exactly what happens to them (and you won't be disappointed when it happens, believe me.) So, while it's no cop/horror/masterpiece... it is a fun Saturday night action flick."