Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

For some reason I never got around to watching "Assault on Precinct 13" until ten years after it was released. Why? Well, I can't claim to be overly much a fan of Ethan Hawke or Lawrence Fishburne. And it wasn't until I saw it shown on TV that I actually sat down to watch this movie.There are some pretty good talents on the cast list aside from Ethan Hawke and Lawrence Fishburne; talents that include John Leguizamo, Brian Dennehy and Gabriel Byrne. I actually didn't know that John Leguizamo was in this movie before seeing him, and he alone would make it worthwhile watching.There certainly was a lot of violence throughout the movie, which does spice up the enjoyment of the movie quite a lot.And while the story was leaning towards being fairly shallow and simplistic, then some good acting performances and the action did more than weigh up for the lack of storyline.All in all, an alright crime action movie. It doesn't put your mind on any challenge, but it is still an enjoyable movie.

Even in its own right, this picture is unrealistic, jaded, and all-around silly. It wouldn't merit more than four stars. However, it is in comparison to its 1973 namesake that this scam of a movie truly gets to showcase just how abysmal it is.The original was dynamic, replete with action, and almost believable. It let the acting and plot (in that order) do the work. Even today, it would earn 6-7 stars easily. This abomination though can muster neither. The acting sucks because the plot sucks, hence the need for two hot chicks and fancy explosions. I mean, when in the first five minutes we're treated to a buxom woman with a short tight skirt, fishnet stockings, and high-heeled boots, then it ain't hard to see where we're headed. And the sexual tension between the pretty shrink and the "sarge" (who looks like somebody who would've washed out of rookie training, never mind gotten several promotions) just affirms the producers' desperation.Lastly, this picture is a time and a half as long as its predecessor. Regrettably, the added 50% is mostly used for trite, utterly forgettable dialog rather than interesting plot twists or some development of the cookie-cutter, one-dimensional characters.Bonus negative points: the ultra-P.C. script (well, for the most part). True, the main protagonist is now a Caucasian unlike in the original iteration. However, the perps are all either small-time crooks or, but of course, totally innocent of any wrongdoing. No rapists or brutal murderers here! It's Rolex counterfeiters and a victimized African-American woman who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight. And the assailants are not some expendable, no-good hoodlums found only if the bottom of the barrel of society is scratched real hard; nope, they're police officers. Dozens of them. All corrupt and murderous... - and white. Boy, oh boy...

On New Year's Eve In Detroit police manage to catch Bishop, a dangerous gangster which is known to kill a cop. He is transferred to a maximum security prison but due to storms are forced to stop in section 13 who is Chief Jake who manages to overcome a difficult moment when a few months ago in a mission because of his wrong orders a few people were killed. At this point he and his team are obliged to take the detainees in cells but inside are appearing a few masked mans and cops think it is Bishop 's friends who came to get him out of there but later learn that they are some cops actually who wants the gangster dead because it holds some valuable information about them and that might incriminate the dirty cops if they are disclosed. Now Jake is forced to ally with the prisoners to keep up and prevent them from reaching Bishop but occurs a few unexpected surprises.A film which action is not absent, has a good dose of mystery and good performances from Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne. It should not be missed.

An update of the Carpenter classic, which itself was an update of Rio Bravo, the film is slightly different, this has more to do with police corruption, rather than a gang getting revenge.It's a slightly different film for Hawke to be in, he must have been funding something, but he really excels in this movie.There is some sort of back story involving Hawke and a NARC style opening, but that just sets the mood for the rest of the film, showing that Hawkes Character is weak, thus making the group vulnerable.Then we have Fishburne as the 'bad' guy. He is all swagger in this and very little else. It's as if he's saying 'I was just in three of the biggest science fiction films of the last ten years which were not Star Wars and don't you forget it!!!'.Byrne is wasted, looking moody and cold. Th rest of the cast are okay, especially Bello, who does convince as a 'shrink'.But what is most striking about the film is how brutal and relentless the film is. No one is safe, and the director doesn't flinch when disposing of characters (Bello the most significant), and this makes the film a little more urgent.It's nothing special, not a patch on the original, and Fishbourne becomes annoying toward the end, but for a little standalone action movie, it passes the time, and the brutality makes it deeply unsettling.