Assault on Precinct 13 is a 2005 action / thriller movie, directed by Jean-François Richet, starring Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, John Leguizamo, Maria Bello, Ja Rule, and Drea de Matteo. It is a loose remake of the 1976 film of the same name by John Carpenter, with an updated plot, and was distributed and produced by Rogue Pictures.

Plot

With only a few hours until the new year, Detroit's oldest police station, Precinct 13, is about to close forever. Only a few officers are on duty for New Year's Eve, including Sergeant Jake Roenick (played by Hawke). Roenick is haunted by a botched undercover operation from eight months before that resulted in the death of the other two members of his team.

Meanwhile, crime lord Marion Bishop (played by Laurence Fishburne) is arrested after a confrontation results in the death of an undercover officer. Bishop is put on a prison bus with three other criminals. A raging snowstorm and treacherous road conditions force the bus driver to make a detour to Precinct 13, where the prisoners are to be held until the storm is over.

New Year's celebrations at the precinct are cut short, however, as the officers find themselves under siege from an elite team of masked gunmen, who are believed to be trying to extract Bishop. After the initial assault, Jake leaves the precinct to find out who the attackers are. While hiding behind the bus from fire, he kills one of the intruders with a stick of ice. After stealing the man's identification, Jake finds out that the assailants are police officers. All of the precinct's occupants become targets once the gun men's identities become apparent. The rest of the ground in the precinct are told that they are a gang of crooked police officers led by Marcus Duvall (played by Gabriel Byrne), head of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Squad. The group is in fact trying to kill Bishop to prevent him from testifying against its corrupt activities. It turns out that Bishop bribed the cops, in past times they got a split of Bishop's profit. The deal had turned ugly when a police man came to Bishop asking for more, then when refused turning a gun to Bishop. Without the slightest trace of stress Bishop killed the cop and tried to escape but was captured, winding up in Precinct 13.

The police officers inside the precinct have to release the criminals and join forces with them to have any chance of staying alive, as more and more corrupt officers surround the precinct and the inhabitants find themselves pitted against street cops, snipers and even a large SWAT unit. Within those who try to fight back are a receptionist, a female psychologist who was held back from going to a party by the blizzard and took shelter in the precinct, a woman who claims to have committed no crimes but may have sniffed a few things, a con artist, a petty thief, two other cops apart from Sergeant Jake Reonick; one old and one who would be in the 30-40 region, and Bishop.

Through the night the two groups fight. There is a lot of friction between the two subgroups within the prison, and the precinct group manages to gain some guns of the SWAT units they take out. However, they know they will not last the night. In a desperate move, the psychologist and the "innocent" woman are sent out in an escape car to get away and find help. Unfortunately there was already a cop in the car, and the "innocent" is killed immediately. This is reminiscent of a scene from the 1976 version where an escape attempt is halted when a gang member in the backseat shoots the driver of the hot wired car. The psychologist is questioned for a short period of time, but when it becomes clear that she will not say anything she is executed via a gunshot to the head. Her death devastates Roenick, as various interactions between the two reveal a strong sexual tension, with the female thief even assuming Roenick was her boyfriend (when she responds "no", the thief does not believe her). The petty thief and con-man make an unauthorized attempt to escape by blowing up a bus as a distraction, but both are killed instantly by sniper shots to the head.

The last remaining survivors are the old cop, Jake, the receptionist, and Bishop. A miracle seemingly saves the group when the old cop remembers an old sewerage passage out. The group sets fire to the precinct and quickly uses the escape, only to be surrounded by police, who have joined forces with the old cop. By using a flash grenade, the group escapes and Jake and Bishop run into the nearby forest. The few remaining police, including Duvall, follow them into the forest. As Bishop points out, the duo are disadvantaged, as the cops have night vision goggles and they do not. To draw their fire Jake runs through the forest, while Bishop kills those who shoot by aiming at their gunfire. Duvall was expecting this and was hiding behind Bishop. Duvall shoots Bishop in the stomach, and then Jake shows up to save Bishop. Jake and Duvall exchange shots, and Duvall dies from a head shot, while Jake sustains injury from a hit in the hip. After considering what Bishop has done, he lets Bishop escape saying "our shit's on pause".

When help eventually arrives the last thing viewers see is a male inspector asking Jake if there was anyone else around, who looks at the forest for a second and says no, showing his trust for the wounded Bishop.

Cast

Reception

Assault on Precinct 13 has received reasonably reviews, some liked the dark swift feel of the film, whilst others criticized the remake, saying that it was a poor performance in comparison to the original John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13. However, the film managed to receive the following ratings on well known sites:

• 6.3 out of 10 on IMDB (International Movie Data Base)
• 61% positive on Rotten Tomatoes

See also

• Assault on Precinct 13 (1976 film)
• The Nest (Nid de guêpes) - French film influenced by original

References

• Assault on Precinct 13, 2005 Rouge pictures film
• The title of the film is parodied in the Saints Row 2 mission, Assault on Precinct 31.

External links

• Ja Rule interview