re:mote voices

Title: Assault On Precinct 13
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, Maria Bello, Drea de Matteo, John Leguizamo, Gabriel Byrne
Director: Jean-Francois Richet

Assault On Precinct 13 was John Carpenter’s remake and update of Rio Bravo, converting a western to a more contemporary setting. In turn this version is an updating of the version from the 1970’s, while also keeping an eye on Rio Bravo. In the same way that the original Assault On Precinct 13 perhaps looks dated now, this new version will probably also look dated in 30 years time – but for the moment it is representative of the moment.

It is New Year’s Eve and the last night of Precinct 13, which has been run down – everything packed up and the staff re-assigned. This should be a quiet night with the last shift toasting the end of an era. However things don’t go to plan, a police bus is transporting a group of prisoners to a detention centre, when the weather impedes their journey and they are forced to take shelter. With Precinct 13 being the only available destination, it finds itself with a basement full. Unfortunately one of those is Bishop, a cop killer and notorious gangster, who if he lives till his trial he will bring down a large group of corrupt police in the process.

This sees Jake forced to face his past, the head officer of this shift, he was taken off the streets due to an injury sustained in a bust gone wrong – which has seen him gain a drug dependency. He has to shore up the station’s defences against the assault led by Gabriel Byrne. The rest of the station staff is made up by the receptionist, a cop who retires tonight, and Jake’s police psychiatrist who is talking him through his problems. Which quickly brings about the conclusion that the only way any of them is going to survive is by allowing the detainees out of the cells and arming them.

The film is reasonably tense. Creating an atmosphere with the combination of the run down police station on the outskirts of the city and the use of the snow, which cuts them off from anyone else. The base line plot is what it is, with little need to built much more on top of that. Though time has been taken to give each of the characters within Precinct 13 some depth – even if it times it perhaps tends towards a clichéd pretence. However, and perhaps not surprisingly, the film has some problems – the fact that no one on the police bus spots the mysterious SUV that trails it to Precinct 13 being the most problematic.

Cast wise Gabriel Byrne takes the role of “and”, which is to say he makes a token gesture appearance. Ethan Hawke takes the real lead of Jake, the troubled and tortured cop from Precinct 13. Maria Bello has converted in recent years from TV to film, with roles in films like Secret Window and The Cooler – playing Hawke’s obsessive compulsive psychiatrist. Laurence Fishburne plays Bishop or Morpheus from the Matrix films, ultra cool, impossible to kill icon, muttering gnomic phrases with his own theme tune. Drea de Matteo plays the sluttish receptionist, someone who I suspect isn’t particularly well known outside the US – though I suspect that is going to change some, with the upcoming friends spin-off, in which I understand she appears.

A decent enough action film, even with the ham-fisted approach to the set up, and the strange cult of Morpheus that the film hangs on.