Assault On Precinct 13

I just got the chance to see the remake of John Carpenter's Assault On Precinct 13 and I have to admit, there are parts of it I like and there are parts of it that confuse me.



This follows the original pretty tightly until the attackers are revealed to be rogue cops, then it takes a slight turn and then veers back onto track until near the end. The basic story is a drug kingpin (played by Laurence Fishburne)who's on the way to prison, when, due to a storm, his bus is rerouted to Precinct 13 to wait out the storm. While at 13, the station comes under attack by people, who we assume are there to break Fishburne out, but are actually there to kill him and everyone in the Precinct. The problem is, Precinct 13 had been decommissioned and is all but abandoned, so the movie becomes a standoff between about 4 cops and dozens of criminals.

Assault On Precinct 13 may be the best remake of a John Carpenter movie that's been done, the problems I had were small ones. Being that I've living in and near Detroit all my life the setting is pretty right on, until the end, when the action moves from the station house into the deep woods of Detroit...now, I'm still looking for the deep woods near the city, I don't think they exist. But, that aside, this is a great action movie. Ethan Hawke isn't bad, for a guy who writes poetry, he's not a bad action hero. Laurence Fishburne is always good, no matter what he's in, and the rest of the cast is great.

I'm giving Assault On Precinct 13 three out of four stars and it only lost a star because I just can't get past the woods thing...it's a mental block! So, until next time, when hopefully I won't be lost in the deep woods of Detroit, remember that the best movies are bad movies!