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Assault on Precinct 13
Focus Features


6.3

based on 39 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 29 votes
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MPAA RATING: R for strong violence and language throughout, and for some drug content

Starring Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, Maria Bello, John Leguizamo, Drea de Matteo, Gabriel Byrne, Brian Dennehy, and Ja Rule

To survive the night, cops and criminals alike will have to unite and fight. A classic head-to-head showdown ignites in this all-new update of the 1976 action thriller of the same name. (Rogue Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Crime \| Drama \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	James DeMonaco John Carpenter (earlier film)
DIRECTED BY:	Jean-François Richet
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 10, 2005 Video: May 10, 2005 Theatrical: January 19, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	109 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Smart, satisfying action entertainment that is also a perceptive work of considerable artistry.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

This remake is considerably different and, for once, the changes have not hurt the film.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

For those with a high tolerance for violence, Asssault on Precinct 13 is a thriller that actually thrills.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Matches a dingy urban setting with a compelling situation and throws in an ensemble of interesting characters who become even more interesting under stress. This emphasis on character -- in a sense, the movie's underlying humanity -- is what especially links it to the 1970s.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

All classic and airtight, and handled by Richet with economy and a sturdy clarity of action; he doesn't go overboard with manic action scenes.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole

One of this enlightened B-movie's many pleasures is French director Jean-François Richet's handling of atmosphere and setting. Shot almost entirely at night in a blinding snowstorm, the crime drama is an intriguing remodelling of a classic film noir.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

For what it is, Assault on Precinct 13 delivers. It's not great art, but, for B-movie fans and those looking for a mid-winter jolt of energy, it's good fun.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

The movie rips and roars.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Smart, entertaining update.

Premiere Aaron Hillis

Strikingly shot with some wicked hand-held virtuousity, Assault is rivetingly suspenseful in how it toys with the morals of good guys flip-flopping to the dark side (and vice versa).

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Less suspenseful than the original but more ethically nuanced, politically pointed, and violent.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

It doesn’t surpass the original, but neither does it disgrace its lineage.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

It's no classic, but you don't need to be a cultist to get in on the tawdry fun.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

A surprisingly credible action flick.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

The 1976 John Carpenter original has been reworked enough to give the urban thriller a distinct flavor of its own, and stars Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne provide enough gravitas to keep things involving.

Variety Joe Leydon

In an era when similar genre pics increasingly resemble videogames, musicvideos or glossy commercials, the blunt, brawny simplicity of helmer Jean-Francois Richet's storytelling style seems positively novel.

New York Magazine Ken Tucker

It's simply an astringent action flick that uses the wounded sensitivity of Ethan Hawke and Fishburne's witty hauteur to give the shoot-'em-up scenes some juice.

Time Richard Corliss

The differences between the two Assaults--the new one's pretty good, the old one near great--are of tone, style and perspective.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Serviceable, occasionally compelling but often formulaic.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

In a preamble that sets up Hawke's character, the jittery hand-held camera and grainy palette establish the look and feel of a '70s movie, thus paying homage to the Carpenter version, which, frankly, had more suspense.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

A slicked up, perfectly watchable update of a movie that was just about perfect on its own bleakly seedy terms.

Empire Staff (Not credited)

A smart script, edgy acting and a gradual accumulation of suspense set-pieces makes for a decent popcorn high.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Volatile yet fairly lunkheaded.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Disappointing for a number of reasons. For one thing, it's silly. For another, it's not always silly enough to be diverting.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

The big shift between Carpenter's B-movie and filmmaker Jean-François Richet's comic book-style remake is that instead of a troop of bloodthirsty gang members encircling the precinct, the bad guys here all look like good guys.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Excitably puppyish homage.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

By playing it safe, the new Precinct leaves the audience sorry and restores thirteen to its place as the unluckiest number.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

It's all energetically filmed, but I miss the cool, modest clarity of the first version. Bigger isn't always better, even at the movies.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

It's good for a silly laugh, this stuff. And maybe this movie will draw renewed attention to Carpenter's eminently better movie.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

It's a run-of-the-mill action film that falls short of the 1976 original - and, for that matter, the 1959 western "Rio Bravo," which inspired the first film. The characters run out of energy and personality long before they run out of bullets.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Retains every hooky, marketable, and superficially attractive element from its source material while losing everything that made it special.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

The main thing this "Assault" lacks is a point. Mr. Carpenter's film still resonates with the political paranoia and social unease of the era. Mr. Carpenter's cynical refusal to distinguish clearly between good guys and bad guys feels freshly unsettling, while Mr. Richet's "modernization" looks like something we've seen a hundred times before.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Still breaks the first and only commandment of remakes: Thou shall at the very least do justice to the original, or thou shall not be made at all.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

Aims to be loud, dumb fun, only it takes itself too seriously to offer anything approaching a good time.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Whatever spark the newer Precinct 13 has comes from its supporting players.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Hampered from the start by the numbingly formulaic additions by screenwriter James DeMonaco ("The Negotiator"). Toss in needlessly fussy visuals and a climax that is hilariously out of whack, and you've got an excellent excuse to stay home and watch the original.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It's never wise to try to one-up a classic.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Pulp needs a pulse -- without one, it's DOA. No matter how hard some of its actors work to resuscitate it, Assault on Precinct 13 is as lifeless as a corpse on a slab.

Slate David Edelstein

Lousy remake.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.3 (out of 10) based on 29 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Bill gave it a2:
terrible film, completely unbelievable storyline, one dimensional characters, unimpressive action sequences its got the lot. Go see 16 blocks instead.

Graham M. gave it a7:
What is good and redeeming about this film is the atmosphere and mood. Feels almost like it could be a horror film. Some of this film has the atmosphere of and could remind some of the game Resident Evil 2.

Tony B. gave it a5:
Just because you probably won't believe a minute of it doesn't mean you won't have a good time. Sit back, don't ask any questions,and enjoy. P.S. Was the original really as well received as the critics say it was?

[Anonymous] gave it a7:
Flawed, but decently entertaining, and sometimes it feels like an old-fashioned thriller. What's with the forest scene at the end, though?

alex h. gave it a3:
Painfully childish logic employed in the storyline.

Mark B. gave it a6:
Straightforward, technocentric action-gore remake of John Carpenter's 1976 zip-budget wonder about cops and prisoners binding together to repel an attack by mysterious, wraithlike gangbangers, is neither the best nor the worst Unnecessary Remake of the past couple years, which seem to have seen a lot more of them even than usual. The major asset is the cast: Lawrence Fishburne, Brian Dennehy and Gabriel Byrne are nearly always a pleasure to watch; Maria Bello (The Cooler) is a police psychiatrist whose couch I'd love to share; and even lead Ethan Hawke, perhaps remembering from Before Sunrise/Sunset that he really CAN act, comes across a bit less generic than usual. There's also a clever twist on the old bromide of the veteran cop enduring his last day on the force before retirement--and stick around for the closing-credits rap song, which rehashes so many details of what we just watched 109 minutes of, you'd think Sherwood Schwartz wrote it! This version doesn't try to duplicate the notorious shoot-the-kid-from-Nanny-and-the-Professor-through-the-ice-cream-cone gag, but it DOES handily rip off the equally memorable stunt from Renny Harlin's Die Hard 2 involving an icicle. In Carpenter's original, the attackers were mostly unseen phantasms: an army of Michael Myerses in training; writer James DeMonaco and director Jean-Francois Richet try too hard to introduce real-world logic into the mix--and why did they almost completely jettison the romantic/sexual tension between two characters on oposite sides of the law that was so vital in the original? Oh well, at least this is a lot more competent and watchable than Carpenter's most recent theatrical effort, the laughable Ghosts of Mars...so I guess that's gotta count for SOMETHING!

Tony P. gave it a5:
I found it unbelievable from the start. Actually found it boring. Stupid film.

Assault on Precinct 13 Focus Features

Assault on Precinct 13
Focus Features