Assault on Precinct 13 is a retelling of John Carpenter's stylized actioneer from 1976. Even though that picture wasn't exactly regarded as a classic, it was Carpenter's follow-up to the little seen Dark Star, and sort of put his name on the map (he would do the infamous Halloween shortly after). I've always had a fondness for that movie (as I do for most of Carpenter's efforts). As a siege picture, Assault on Precinct 13 had all the right ingredients, most notably tension and an undeniable sense of claustrophobia.

This version has similar such attributes along with an updated twist - this time, the villains are a pack of murderous, crooked cops as opposed to your standard street hoods. Recalling the classic western, Assault on Precinct 13 sets up a simplistic premise and plays out a little like Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo, albeit not as memorable.

In this violent, action flick, Ethan Hawke is burned-out police officer Jake Roenick. Along with a couple of fellow officers and a few criminals they're holding in a cell at a soon-to-be-closed Precinct 13, this reluctant team is forced to work together so that they might fend off an army of masked men who have taken the condemned precinct, under siege. Compounding the situation is the fact that it's New Year's Eve, there's a horrendous blizzard and well, they're in Detroit,. The attackers' objective? To capture prisoner Bishop (played by Laurence Fishburne), a crime lord with ties in the highest of places.

Assault on Precinct 13 is fast-paced and never pretends to be high art. It's all pretty straight forward action fare and the movie is perfectly comfortable in it's own skin. In other words, be prepared to be assaulted with an onslaught of bullets and bloodshed. This isn't a character driven movie, although Ethan Hawke does manage to create a fully textured role. At times, I almost felt as if his Jake belonged in a different movie.

Hawke is very good here, and his first scene is particularly noteworthy, even if it did remind me of the hyper kinetic opening frames of Joe Carnahan's Narc. Fishburne pretty much just duplicates his Morpheus role from The Matrix. He has a quietness about him, but we're always completely aware that he can go ballistic if need be-and he does. Maria Bello has a few nice moments as a psychiatrist with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Brian Dennehy, playing a sort of variation of his role in First Blood, is fun as a grizzled, old time police officer. Gabriel Byrne is on cruise control as a cop with an agenda, while Drea de Matteo is positively laughable as a nymphomaniac secretary (which is too bad given her rich portrayal on The Sopranos).

The criminals that join forces with Jake are completely stock. John Leguizamo is particularly annoying as a spastic drug addict. He's the token comic relief, and his routine wears thin quickly. I suppose there's something to be said for his energy though.

This Assault on Precinct 13 was directed by John Francois-Richet, and he does do a good job setting the mood. The introduction to Jake is intense, and as the picture progresses, we do feel isolated with the characters trapped in the precinct. The pouring snow heightens the tension. I also thought this picture had a lot of balls. Several characters die rather unexpectedly, but the proceedings would have been far more effective had we known some of these people a little bit more.

The action is standard. And in fact, one scene in particular appears to be a direct lift from a John McClane terrorist offing in Die Hard 2. Often, Richet puts us too close to the action so that it's hard to see what's going on. Still, and I was never really bored.

Assault on Precinct 13 has it's moments and I appreciate that it is what it is and never really takes itself seriously. That makes the ridiculous dialogue and situations tolerable. Richet is no John Carpenter, but his film does move at a quick pace . At the very least, I found it more entertaining than the recent Flight of the Phoenix and that silly National Treasure movie.