Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)

Look, to me "Assault on Precinct 13" (1976) is my favorite John Carpenter film. I'll save my glowing review for that film another day. Yes, I hold that in such high esteem, and while I'm just not typically an advocate for more and more remakes, I didn't think the 2005 film directed by  Jean-François Richet was a steaming pile. I think why I liked it somewhat was because of its setting during a particularly atmospheric Detroit during a winter storm. The cast is quite fantastic, really. Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne in the leads, the late, great Brian Dennehy, Drea de Matteo, and later Matt Craven as cops holed up in a discontinued precinct in a warehouse district. Maria Bello is a psychiatrist responsible for Hawke's evaluation since a drug bust gone wrong left undercover officers dead; she is unfortunately stuck at the precinct due to the storm. Inmates who happen to be on a bus that must stop at the defunct precinct include junkie Leguizamo, Ja Rule (who speaks in third person), Aisha Hinds (who persists she is not a thief), and Laurence Fishburne as a major gangster with ties to Gabriel Byrne and his bevy of corrupt cops sharing a cut of drug profits. Byrne and his well equipped cops in night vision goggles, protective gear, and superior firepower arrive at the precinct with a plan to smoke out Fishburne, but Hawke isn't about to just let them barge in without a fight. So you see cops inside the precinct needing to join forces with criminals, including a secretary with de Matteo and psychiatrist Bello trying to stay alive. It turns out Hawke is unaware dirty cops inside the precinct with him are also involved with Byrne. The bad winter storm makes Hawke's life especially difficult because getting help or escaping from Byrne and his men when they are so much better off seems impossible. With cops supposed to help him actually working for Byrne and criminals he'll need to somehow trust with guns despite every reason not to, Hawke's options are limited. Byrne putting a bullet in a major member of the cast without batting an eye is chilling. Hawke, to his credit, remains a good cop despite vices that trouble him (booze and pills).

As would be expected, Laurence and Hawke eventually are wounded and by themselves. It was cool seeing de Matteo surviving an attack by using Byrne's thug's knife against him. But poor Bello isn't so lucky, an escape attempt with Hinds not successful.

I wouldn't say "Assault on Precinct 13" is anything memorable, though, but as an action movie you could do a hell of a lot worse. There is plenty of guns going off as the snow falls and lots of head wounds bleeding out. And, obviously, a lot of profanity. I was kind of disappointed that Dennehy turns out to be a dirty cop...prior to that he seemed to be a legit retiree willing to back up Hawke when very few allies seemed available to him. Byrne is all business while Fishburne is a cool customer as always. Leguizamo and Rule are an amusing combo, the former as unstable and wacky as ever. 3/5

***Thing is, while this reboot is basically a standard siege film involving dirty cops after a particular gangster, Carpenter's film was highly regarded as an action film of a particular caliber that stood out as a festival darling. The 2005 film is more or less an action film that exists within a genre full to the top with just as memorable and better action films.***