Assault On Precinct 13

In attempting to modernize John Carpenter's 1976 cult-classic director Jean-Francois Richet opens with a showstopper sequence akin to the opening of Joe Carnahan's "Narc" before digressing into a disjointed quagmire of anachronistic plot elements. Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke) is a distraught Detroit police Sergeant on duty at an obsolete police station (Precinct 13) on a blizzard-ravaged New Year's Eve when a stranded police bus full of prisoners fill the precinct's jail cells. Kingpin criminal Marion Bishop (Lawrence Fishburne) unwittingly attracts a siege on the precinct by a group of dirty undercover cops who want Marion's head at all costs lest he testify against them. It isn't long before Jake is forced to arm the prisoners to help defend the station house against a nightlong assault that claims a handful of surprise victims. "Assault On Precinct 13" will function as a passable roller coaster thriller for audiences not familiar with the original movie, but fails to resonate on the visceral level that Carpenter's film achieved.

Rated R, 109 mins. (C-) (Two Stars)