Assault On Precinct 13 Old + New

Original

            This is a classic Carpenter Film. John Carpenter (Dir. They) takes the lowly ghetto of Anderson, California into a terrifying and intense game of cat and mouse. A cop and two clerical secretaries are all that’s left of a soon to be shutdown police station, but when a man who has violently murdered a gang member enters in search of sanctuary, the gangs declare war of total destruction on the precinct. Armed to the teeth, the cops seem no match at all, and are already low on supplies.

            They enlist the help of some of the men still being held temporarily in the precinct on their way to death row, and with some careful planning, they devise a scheme to destroy the endless onslaught of gang members.

            While it’s not terribly well done, and like most things carpenter does, it’s obviously low budget, he communicates things very well, and brings across the urgent suspense that he is famous for. This movie was recently re-made, but the original was  all no-name actors, and they play their parts without any pretension.

            The action is clumsy, but purposefully so, as though it were real, and the strategy and humanity displayed in the various situations is gripping. The all digital soundtrack helps slow things down, and deliver a great low budget movie, I rate a 2.

Remake

            This is a much enhanced, and much more serious version of John Carpenters amazing 70’s chiller. Ethan Hawk (Snow falling on Cedars) plays Sgt. Roenick, a former undercover cop who’s team was killed by drug dealers during a bust, partially as a result of decisions he made during the action. He is not held responsible, but has been seeing a police shrink (Maria Bello, Thank You for Smoking) for the past 8 months.

            In the meantime it’s new years eve, and the federal cops have just caught Derek Bishop (Laurence Fishburn, Boys in the Hood) and are housing him at Sgt. Roenick’s precinct, which is soon to be shut down and demolished as it is. It isn’t long before goons descend on precinct 13 in hopes of freeing Bishop it seems. But Roenick soon discovers it’s corrupt cop Duvall (Gabriel Byrne, Wah Wah) who is trying to take out Bishop, his former partner.

            Thrown in the mix are several strange characters including a tweeker junkie (Jon Leguizamo, King of the Jungle) and Smiley the Thief (Ja Rule, Get Rich or Die Trying). It creates a very profound and quizzical situation, and ultimately the centerpiece is the redemption of Sgt. Reonick. A brief sidenote, the opening monologue by Hawk is absolutely hysterical. Definitely going to capture it, actually. 2.