Inside Pulse DVD Review – Assault on Precinct 13

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Director:

Jean-Francois Richet

Cast:

Ethan Hawke……….Jake Roenick
Laurence Fishburne……….Marion Bishop
Gabriel Byrne……….Marcus Duvall
John Leguizamo……….Beck
Maria Bello……….Alex Sabian
Jeffrey “Ja Rule” Atkins……….Smiley
Drea de Matteo……….Iris Ferry
Matt Craven……….Capra
Brian Dennehy……….Jasper O’Shea

Rogue Pictures presents a film produced by Jerry Silver. Screenplay by James DeMonaco, based on the film written by John Carpenter. Running time: 109 minutes. Rated R (for violence).

The movie:

Though it may not seem so at first, the opening scene in Assault on Precinct 13 establishes two things: the film’s tempo and the believability of its main character. After an undercover drug deal goes sour, bullets fly and bodies fall. Moving at a frenetic pace, Jake (Ethan Hawke) chases down the drug dealers with a gunshot wound to the leg; his two partners, however, die in the skirmish.

Without the success of Training Day, casting directors may have overlooked an actor like Hawke. He doesn’t seem like the type of guy who fits the mold of an action star. In the opening act his character’s drive is full-bore with a tougher-than-scrap-metal mentality. Just goes to show you that heroes don’t have to be barrel-chested behemoths. As long as the protagonists are strong-willed, people will believe them.

Having the main character suffer both physical pain and the emotional loss of his partners – in the first scene no less – is hard to follow up. But through pain there is perseverance. Conversely, Jake’s resolve is in the form of popping painkillers and chasing them down with booze.

Even if you haven’t seen John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13, the plot should sound familiar: a fortress is surrounded, and defenders must put their prejudices aside and work together to fight off the attackers. This story has been told countless times before. Not just in westerns staring the likes of John Wayne, but in history as well.

Twenty-nine years after the original film, French director Jean-Francois Richet takes the source material, ups the body count, and delivers a high-energy action picture.

Eight months and still traumatized over the deaths of his two partners, Jake is a burnt-out desk sergeant, running a police station in inner city Detroit. It’s New Years Eve and the precinct is scheduled to close its doors forever at midnight. Working along side him on the graveyard shift is Jasper O’Shea (Brian Dennehy), an old school officer with his own philosophy on crime and punishment. Also in the station is the scantily dressed secretary Iris (Drea de Matteo).

The night is slow going for these three. Iris chats up the gang, telling them why she likes to sleep with “bad boys.” Jake mopes around and retreats to his office so he can consume more pills and alcohol. O’Shea is somewhere in the building trying to do as little as possible.

Then everything changes. Earlier in the day a sinister gangster named Bishop (Laurence Fishburne) has been arrested and is being transported by police bus with some other detainees: counterfeiter Smiley (Ja Rule), motormouth Beck (John Leguizamo) and two-bit female crook (Aisha Hinds). It’s a dark and snowy night and the officers on the bus receive word that up ahead the highway is blocked by an accident. So, the officers opt to dump the prisoners at Precinct 13. Minutes later glass shatters and it appears that Bishop’s men are attempting to break him free.

It’s up to Jake to pull himself up by his bootstraps and lead the defense of the surrounded precinct. He can’t call outside for help, much to his surprise. All phones, cell phones, and police radios are inoperable because of the snowstorm. How convenient. I’m sure someone like “The Duke” wouldn’t want it any other way.

The level of interest and impending danger is increased once it is revealed the outside forces are not quite who they seem; a highly adept S.W.A.T. group is laying siege to the precinct. They are in cahoots with a dirty narcotics cop, Marcus Duvall (Gabriel Byrne), who was once a 50-50 member in Bishop’s nefarious operation. He wants Bishop eliminated before he can make a statement about Duvall’s involvement.

Backs to the wall, Jake recruits the prisoners to fight alongside the officers who have imprisoned them. Also added to the mix is Jake’s psychiatrist Alex Sabian (Maria Bello). Subsequent to that fateful day eight months ago Jake was to receive monthly psychological evaluations at the behest of the Detroit police department. It just so happens that December’s appointment fell on New Years Eve.

The action inside the precinct is a throwback to the Lethal Weapons and action flicks of the 80’s. Wire kung fu and bullet-timing effects have been replaced with out-and-out gunplay and explosions. But director Richet doesn’t go to the extremes with hyper-conduced action sequences. His use of the handheld camera is a nice touch, providing a sense of urgency in his
characters.

And what about the characters? Besides Jake and Bishop, most of the other characters are window dressing. Leguizamo is comic relief. Byrne was more menacing as Keaton in The Usual Suspects. Another rapper turned actor could have replaced Ja Rule and people wouldn’t notice. Matteo and Bello are eye candy, but at least they’re sporting guns and ammo. That said, you don’t watch a movie like Assault on Precinct 13 for the acting.

The biggest complaint I have with this movie is the stupid plot points. OK, there is a shot where the camera pulls out to a wide shot and you see the precinct situated in some desolate region of Detroit. There are no other structures near the building let alone a forest. But as the film climaxes the defenders of the precinct retreat to a nearby forest.

Another problem is the idea that there is a snitch within the ranks of the police. If there was a snitch that would mean he (or she) would know that the bus would ultimately have to stop at Precinct 13. The movie does not explore why the bus happened to stop. The officers on the bus get word that the highway has been blocked by an accident. This is a message that could easily have been relayed by one of Duvall’s partners in crime.

Actually, forget that last comment. That would be giving this movie to much credit. I seriously doubt it was the director’s intention for us to surmise our own conclusions on why the bus arrived there in the first place.

That’s like wondering why Duvall’s renegade cops
used high-powered assault rifles to attack Precinct 13 when plastic explosives would have been more appropriate.

Score: 5/10

THE DVD

VIDEO: How does it look?

The adrenaline charged action flick has a decent transfer. No muted colors or spots in the print. And the lighting in the precinct gives the film a nourish look, which helps. Assault on Precinct 13 has its original widescreen presentation (2.40:1) and it is enhanced for 16 x 9 televisions.

Score: 8.5/10

AUDIO: How does it sound?

The DVD sports three audio tracks, one of which is English DTS 5.1 Digital Surround Sound. Without DTS I don’t know how you can be complete. Just imagine hearing gunshots, explosions and car crashes. And that’s just getting started. If you don’t have DTS capabilities I’m sure Dolby Digital 5.1 audio will suffice. In addition to the two mixes, the DVD sports a French soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1.

Score: 8.5/10

SPECIAL FEATURES: Behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, and an audio commentary!!

The first four featurettes on the DVD center on a specific aspect of the film. Charles Taylor, the weapons specialist for the movie, shows off and explains the weapons used during the five-minute feature Armed and Dangerous. For Behind Precinct Walls (7:28), production designer Paul Austerberry takes you on a tour of the makeshift precinct created for the movie. The look of the set was inspired by two police stations, one in New York City the other in Detroit. Probably the best part of this seven-minute special is the brief mention of “wild walls.” These are walls that remove easily so the director can shoot the scene at any angle. This also helps when you want to do a CGI effect where the camera zooms out and goes through a window. Plan of Attack has stunt coordinator Steve Lucescu showing some of the stunts performed in the making of Assault on Precinct 13. The characters work to their strengths and improvisation is sometimes used. The last feature, The Assault Team, has artificial comments made by producer Jeffrey Silver, director Jean-Francois Richet, and writer James DeMonaco. No new ground is broken here.

Out of the four, the last plays like a five-minute “fluff” special.

After watching the movie once, try watching it again with a group commentary consisting of Richet, Silver, and DeMonaco. All three recount stories on making the movie. There is a sense of jubilation listening to the three talk. In a scene where Ethan Hawke’s character puts a bullet through an assailant’s head, the producer, I believe, found it surprising the MPAA didn’t want them to tone down the violence. Richet tells his collaborators of a police station assault in France by a terrorist. Probably not to the effect displayed in the movie, though. But it’s interesting to note that something like this has been attempted before.

In a feature that touts itself as Explosive Deleted Scenes one would expect action-packed scenes that were edited out of the final cut. Not so. There isn’t a single explosion or gunshot in the five scenes shown. Talk about false advertising. The best of the bunch is a scene involving Gabriel Byrne putting one of his fellow S.W.A.T. members out of his misery. It was wisely cut because the scene has Byrne being sympathetic in having to kill one of his own, totally counteracting his character in the finished film.

The last special feature resembles one of those behind-the-scenes features that airs on HBO, Showtime or Cinemax. Entitled Caught in the Crosshairs (12:33), on-the-set cast and crew sound bites highlight the action scenes and the movie’s plot. In the extra, Ethan Hawke says it is the “best action script I’ve ever read.” I guess he means given by his agent to read; I’m sure the script for Die Hard or any Shane Black screenplay is readily available on the Internet.

Score: 3/10

Travis Leamons is one of the Inside Pulse Originals and currently holds the position of Managing Editor at Inside Pulse Movies. He's told that the position is his until he's dead or if "The Boss" can find somebody better. I expect the best and I give the best. Here's the beer. Here's the entertainment. Now have fun. That's an order!