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Directed by: Jean-Francois Richet Starring: Ethan Hawke, Larry Fishburne, John Leguizamo, Ja Rule Sometimes you want to see a movie to just see a bunch of poo poo blow up and guns blazing like crazy so you can escape and just enjoy the thrill. Too often the movies Hollywood makes that fit this prescription suck really really bad, and I find many people forgiving the movie's glaring faults. "Blade Trinity had a lovely story and lovely acting, but I just wanted to see some cool fight scenes." Assault on Precinct 13, thankfully bucks the trend, and gives you a gripping story, intense acting, AND great scenes with icicles shoved into people's eyeballs, crushed adam's apples, and enough point blank gunshots to the head to satisfy the most jaded of violent action film fans. Assault on Precinct 13, (or rear end-P.13 as the kids on the street are already calling it) doesn't disappoint. Sure it's a remake of John Carpenter's 1976 low budget 2nd film, but it's not like that was some untouchable classic that nobody should have remade. This is as competent of a "reimagining" as 2004's Dawn of The Dead. Where the original relied on a cast of nobodys and an intense standoff situation, the casting in the 2005 version fo rear end-P.13 is loving amazing. Ethan Hawke plays a troubled cop that could have easily been the next progression from his character in Training Day, but it's Larry Fishburne who owns every scene he's in with an icky charisma that you can't stop looking at. This is the Larry Fishburne from King of New York and to Deep Cover that got forgotten with all of the spirtual mumbo jumbo of his Morpheus role in The Matrix trilogy. He oozes a lawful evil craziness that's amazing to watch throughout the entire movie. The setup is simple. Fishburne is a super mega scary crime boss named Bishop who is arrested after killing an undercover cop, and is being transported to a jail on a blizzard infested New Year's Eve with a junkie played by John Leguizamo, a counterfeit merchandise salesman by Ja Rule (who refers to himself, "Smiley", in third person in a surpisingly funny role), and a lady gangsta. The extreme weather causes a change of plans which requires the crew to be locked up at Precinct 13, which has a skeleton crew on board because of the holiday, and is nearly empty and ignored, as it's going to be shut down permanently as of the 1st. A couple of masked gunmen break in and want to kill Bishop, and after the cops fight them off, they realize there's legions more outside ready to come in and kill everyone there. At this point, the movie takes off with the classic holed up in a small place while you fend off the danger outside that's worked well in films like Rio Bravo (which inspired the original film), Zulo, and Night of the Living Dead. In many ways rear end-P.13 is just like a zombie movie, only the zombies have guns. It's the perfect mix of action, humor, and a gripping setup that makes for a fun watch. Gabriel Byrne and Brian Dennehey also contribute great performances as well. My only complaint, perhaps, is a rather stupid closing line that almost seems like a blooper outtake, but the minor gaffe at the finale is hardly worth condemning the entire movie over. If you're interested in putting a bit of mind back in mindless fun, Assault on Precinct 13 is just what you need. RATING: 4 PROS: Crazy insane intense action and violence, Larry Fishburne is amazing CONS: The final line of the movie is stupid and it'll make you groan ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398712/ liquorhead fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Jan 14, 2005 |
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Jan 14, 2005 08:43
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 11:04 |
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This is the type of movie that you see if you want to laugh at an entirely implausible plot and laughable lines. There wasn't quite enough actual fighting to make it an enjoyable, mindless shoot-em-up kind of deal, but the "suspense" tactics didn't work (think people creeping around in masks and short bursts of gunfire when they find each other, separated by long, "tense," emotional scenes. There were some horrible lines, most memorably some of the ones from the lady gangster. The scenes where there was fighting going on were well-shot but extremely predictable (a friend and I correctly guessed who would live and who would die 15 minutes into the movie). Of course, the entire plot is contrived; the bad guys, with their millions of dollars worth of equipment, have flash grenades (which don't make sound?) but no real explosives. And the final scene was horrible and out of place, not unlike the final scene in the third Matrix. Laurence Fishburne did a decent job, but his accent ruined the acting for me. Imagine Morpheus with an inner-city Detroit dialect; it was hard to listen to. The rest of the cast was ok too, but nothing noteworthy. The movie's only saving grace was its unintentional comedy. And there wasn't enough to make it enjoyable. Rating: 2 Pros: Some unintended hilarity, lots of gruesome death (if that's your thing) Cons: Plotholes galore, cheesy lines, overacted, not scary or thrilling
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Jan 21, 2005 03:22
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Excellent, excellent movie. I'd say that its the best action movie since Die Hard With A Vengence. Ethan Hawke plays a down on his luck, painkiller addicted, boozer cop, miserable with himself months after an undercover sting goes bad costing him the lives of his team. On New Year's Eve, with a blizzard rolling in, he is stuck in a precinct a day from closing down with the sex-addicted secretary and the not-so-archetypical cop a day from retirement(Dennehey), and Hawke's police psychologist. Unfortunately for them, big time Detroit gangster Bishop(Fishburne) has been captured and will be transfered to the undermanned Precinct 13 for the night along with a few other criminals(Leguizamo, Ja Rule). As is turns out, a crooked cop(Byrne) is looking to shut Bishop up by killing him and all witnesses involved. The movie becomes a fast paced, claustrophobic "they're out, we're in" action movie along the same lines as Night of The Living Dead or Dawn of The Dead. The police have to learn to trust the criminals and vice versa if they hope to survive the night. The characters are all believable, and the plot twists are actually rather surprising. There's only a few minor plot holes(why don't they just throw grenades in) that aren't entirely bothersome. The closing line isn't that bad, and it's really the only one-liner in the movie. The movie will keep you guessing and you may actually be surprised at who ends up living and who ends up dying. Pros: Fast paced, fun, keeps you on the edge of your seat. Cons: Not a whole lot. John Leguizamo's character is pretty annoying. Rating: 5.0 PS: An edit to the above post, the flashbangs DID bang, I don't know what movie you were watching(listening to?).
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Jan 21, 2005 06:24
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I don't quite agree with the poster above me, but I do have to say that this was a surprisingly good movie. It didn't break any new ground, but it was intensely watchable. I didn't see the original or Rio Bravo, so I don't know how it compares to either of those, but I do know that Fishburne did a great job as usual, and Hawke gets a solid B+ from me. The director seems to have a fetish for blood slowly trickling out of bulletholes in the head, but even so, the action is more than satisfactory. As far as this contempt for the final line goes, if "get used to it" is what we're talking about, I'm not in agreement. It's not spectacular by any means, but to me it was appropriate, and showed that Hawke had moved on from his undercover days. I'm going to give this a 4.5. It might have been a 5 if I hadn't seen Sideways right before it, another good movie that I recommend you see. Pros: acting, action, look and feel Cons: brings nothing new to the table (it is a remake), somewhat predictable
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Jan 24, 2005 08:12
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My buddy and I went in last night to catch this. The theatre was empty. The assault on the precinct was ridiculous. Methods used were completely unintelligent. The only reasons for such ineffective methods of assault was so that the movie would last longer than 20 minutes. Lots of poo poo doesn't make sense. Rating: 2/5 A friendly modnote, next time you should review the movie itself rather than the tactics used by the street thugs contained therin Somebody fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Jan 28, 2005 |
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Jan 28, 2005 18:55
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I went with a few friends to see this movie on Wednesday. There was only 2 other people there aside from us so our we felt our laughter wouldn’t be that obnoxious. And lots of laughter there was. This movie takes every attempt it can to force itself to seem serious to both the audience and the movie itself. But how serious can a movie be with JaRule referring to himself in the third person every 5 seconds. The acting wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. You really cant blame Fishburne and Hawke though, they were both dealt terrible characters. In Fishburnes case, his character has about as much depth as a piece of cardboard. Im pretty sure all the director did was tell him to look serious in every scene. As for Hawkes character, well, its just a walking cop stereotype. You’ve seen it in dozens of movies before. The good cop who makes a decision that gets his team killed, so now hes turned into a drunk/pillhead/whatever. And of course the movie makes it a point to center around him overcomming his addiction/emotional baggage. I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard in my life as when Hawke dumps his pills onto the floor in slow motion. The plot is also laughable. We watch these highly trained cops, and even SWAT, get their asses handed to them by someone who makes Counterfeit watches, A drug addict going through withdrawals, a female "gangsta" who I didn’t even realize was a women until halfway through the movie, and some stupid psychiatrist who, of course, also has to overcome her own personal problems (OH NO SHE HAS OCD WHAT WILL SHE DO  ). Throughout the movie we are shown minute long pans of the snow covered station and street, as if we are supposed to believe that no one will notice over a dozen dead bodies just because a blizzard has hit. The worst part is, the gun fights weren’t even that good. That’s what I went to see and I was robbed over and over again as the gun fights amounted to watching a wall/barrel/window get shot 50 times while someone hid behind it. Pros: A few people get their melon split, the cinematography is rather eye pleasing with all the dark blues and shadowy feeling Cons: Two dimensional cliche characters abound, laughable plot, JaRule Rating: 2.0
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Jan 30, 2005 16:01
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It was like watching a game of Counterstrike acted out for a lot of it, which I found kind of cool. Complete with flashbangs, AWP whores on the roof, and autosnipers. The nightvisioned cops also reminded me of Splinter Cell. Some of the exterior shots are very well done, the scenery of the big city snowstorm really works. My favorite is the forest scene at the end, though. The lighting is very intense. However, this doesn't make it a good film, just a good situation for a video game. Most of the lines are pretty cheesy, and the acting is hit or miss (Hint: Ja Rule = HUGE MISS). I felt that a longer development into Fishburn's character was needed, an explanation of exactly how big a crime boss he is would've been good. It still manages to be semi entertaining throughout, though, mainly thanks to the action and decent performances by Dennehy and Hawke. I'd say it's a 2.5, and that some developer should pick up this licence and make a decent multiplayer game.
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Jan 30, 2005 22:26
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I went to the movie because of the first review of this thread, and I must say, I did not come back empty-handed. The acting was good (especially Leguizamo and Fishburn) and the action scenes were far enough apart that the movie couldn't be considered a bloodbath, but intense enough that it couldn't be considered a character study. The plot: I was not expecting this good of a plot at all. It had a nice twist at the end, followed by a delicious forest-fight and a cool resolution (but a lame closing line). The acting: There wasn't any stand-out, mindblowing acting, but it was still great to see the 2 main cops (Hawke, Denehey) and the 2 main criminals (Fishburn, Leguizamo) interact with each other. The other actors were forgettable. The action: Badass. In the scene after the swat guys come in but everyone's expecting it, I nearly yelled "HELL YEAH!!" There're few things better than seeing an accomplished actor such as Fishburn, completely pwning a man to insanity. Overall: I'd give it a 4/5. It was fun and better than I expected, but it was not exactly high-cinema. Still, I must-see on a lazy afternoon.
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Feb 10, 2005 07:11
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 11:04 |
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Assault on Precinict 13 easily fits my typical movie category. It wasn't anything special while not boring the hell out of me. 2.5/5
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Feb 15, 2005 07:14
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