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There is something so pure – so unadulterated – about a good action film. Sacrificing the brain clutter that other films carry with them for raw excitement peppered with specks of coruscating violence, a good action flick leaves you with a satisfaction that very little compares to. It's the feeling of a man who single-handedly takes on a slew of enemies using a corkscrew and walks away without a scratch. It raises a sensation of pride and gives you that "I can take on the world" type of confidence that generally lead to self-inflicted bodily harm in my younger, more reckless days. Now a remake on the other hand can be an ugly, ugly thing. An ambitious filmmaker could turn BATTLEFIELD EARTH into THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and fans of the original BATTLEFIELD will demand his head on a stake. Luckily for ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 it is so unlike its ancestor that its only ties are basic premise and title. It's New Years Eve, a blizzard is blowing and Detroit's Precinct 13 is spending its last night open before permanently shutting its doors the following day. Due to the storm, high profile mobster Marion Bishop (Lawrence Fishburn) and a small group of prisoners (featuring John Leguizamo and rapper Ja Rule) who are en route to the city poke are forced to hole up in the just barley functioning station and wait for the storm to blow over. With a skeleton crew led by the drunken officer with a checkered past Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke) and made up of stereotypical Irish cop Jasper O'Shea (Brian Dennehy) and the "hooker with a heart of gold" secretary Iris Ferry (Drea de Matteo), what could go wrong? If you guessed an assault, give yourself three points. A group of dirty cops (lead by Gabriel Byrne) are out to extract Bishop, forcing the criminals and cops to band together and stop the ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13. Many people forget the original ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 is a remake of RIO BRAVO, so in my book it's only fair that the remake of a remake gets a little bit of leeway. The fact that key plot points in the new ASSAULT don't match up with its predecessor does not make it a bad film, it just makes it... well, different. When taken as a completley seperate entity from the first it is an altogether entertaining effort. The performances by the key players are as good as one should expect from the likes of Lawrence Fishburn, Ethan Hawke and John Leguizamo, and Gabriel Byrne (as usual) is amazing. He has truly mastered the art of appearing calm and cool with an underlying sinister layer. While it is by no means a complex story, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 does throw a few curve balls at the viewer. I was impressed that it shook the standard Hollywood formula that removes any hint of realism from most action films, although this may disappoint fans of the infamous "Hollywood Ending". The violence has a gritty, realistic edge akin to a Takeshi Kitano film, sacrificing showy gun fights for a more straight to the point brand of brutality, something I feel many of our domestic action films can certainly use a dose of. While I have to admit that with any other cast ASSAULT might not have been nearly as watchable, I thoroughly enjoyed this rebirth of the film. It's definitely not for everyone, but if you feel like giving your brain a two hour vacation this is a perfect getaway. email this review to a friend
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