Assault On Precinct 13 (2005)

Filed Under: Film, Reviews | Article Tags : DVD review

By: Denis Blot

July 2005

DVD Features

Video: 2.40:1 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1

Armed and Dangerous – Assault’s weapons specialist reveals how he matched gun to character for the film’s explosive shootout sequences.
Behind Precinct Walls – How the precinct building was constructed, from concept to computer screen
Plan of Attack – Assault’s stunt coordinator reveals the planning behind some of the film’s most explosive stunts.
Deleted Scenes
Theatrical release: 1/19/2005
DVD released on 5/10/2005 by Universal Studios
Running time of 109 minutes

Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Ethan Hawke, Ja Rule, John Leguizamo

Director: Jean-Francois Richet

Plot: Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) and his wife Etheline (Anjelica Huston) had three children–Chas, Richie and Margot, and then they separated. Chas (Ben Stiller) started buying real estate in his early teens and seemed to have an almost preternatural understanding of international finance. Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) was a playwright and received a Braverman Grant of fifty thousand dollars in the ninth grade. Richie (Luke Wilson) was a junior champion tennis player and won the U.S. Nationals three years in a row. Virtually all memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums was subsequently erased by two decades of betrayal, failure and disaster.

Assault on Precinct 13 has all the makings of a good summer movie; action, sexy stars, explosions, gunfire, and a decent enough storyline with some basic plot twists to keep it interesting. If it was not for the snowy Detroit landscape the film takes place in, it could have been released during the summer and done better in theatres than it did. Luckily the DVD is out just in time for those muggy, sticky, heat strewn days when setting foot outside of air conditioning will cause immediate suction of clothing to skin.
The purists who were big fans of the brilliantly executed low budget original film by John Carpenter and avoided seeing the film with the belief that it would only anger them, should indulge. The film’s only tie to the original are some of the names and that the action takes place at a police precinct, it pays homage as opposed to mimicry. The film is full of clichés; the cop who blames himself for the deaths of his partners, the bad ass criminal, the partnering up of good and bad guys, and the good cop gone bad, and yet there always seems to appear a witty line or a great action sequence just in time to save the viewer from the boredom that a clichéd film is apt to bring.
Ethan Hawke and Lawrence Fishburne play their roles admirably, lending credibility to a script that is often in need of it. John Leguizamo and Ja Rule also function well as secondary characters providing the occasional comic relief. The female roles unfortunately come up short, though much of Drea De Matteo’s and Maria Bello’s shortcomings have poorly written characters to blame. DeMatteo’s character appears more as a wisecracking streetwalker than someone who would be working in a police station, and Maria Bello’s interaction Hawke as his psychiatrist is too playful to pass for what should be a doctor-patient relationship.
Fortunately action takes precedent over acting in this film and French director Jean-Francois Richet has constructed well-paced action sequences that continuously propel the movie forward. His understanding of the momentum needed in an action film is clearly presented as he discusses the reasons for cutting certain scenes in the deleted scenes DVD extra.
On the subject of DVD extras, there are several worth viewing and some, which are superfluous. The previously mentioned deleted scenes, contains a rather gruesome scene which is worth seeing. Several behind the scenes mini documentaries cover everything from the weapons used in the film to the stunt coordination. There is also a mini documentary on the film that was most likely done as a promotional film for television, and as such is unnecessary to watch once you have viewed the film. The film commentary provided by director Richet, screenwriter James DeMonaco, and producer Jeffrey Silver is substantial. There is a downside to Richet’s commentary which is that English is his second language, and he often struggles to find the right word or phrase to explain what he has done in the film, although Silver assists him at times, often one gets the impression Richet holds back in conveying his thoughts.
Assault on Precinct 13 is certainly more than simply eye candy, and will definitely entertain. Stay out of the heat and rent it today.