It is a historical irony that the tale of the Alamo, despite being one of the more severe and lopsided losses in American history, has also forced itself among the most patriotic moments in American history. The reason is because it is a story of a small band of unlikely people of all backgrounds, coming together to stand against a common foe.
Likewise, the tensest, most thrilling moments in \Assault on Precinct 13"" have no flying bullets, no hand-held cameras and no ""sniper view"" shots of the main characters in the line of sight. When Ethan Hawke decides to arm the prisoners of the soon-to-be-derelict station in order to protect it and themselves, there is no possible way of knowing how they'll act; how can the officers trust their prisoners with weapons? What's keeping all of them really fighting on the same side? And what will happen once the shooting stops? Like at the Alamo, cop and criminal must trust each other with their lives if they hope to survive the night.
On New Year's Eve 2005, Detroit's Precinct 13 is about to permanently close its doors. So naturally it is understaffed and relatively unarmed when the prison bus carrying, among others, mob boss Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne), is forced to stop and unload its people overnight because of snow. The station comes under attack because someone is afraid that Bishop may know too much, and it is up to Sgt. Jake Roenick (Hawke) and company to defend themselves against the onslaught until help comes at dawn. In that time, he enlists the aid of both civilians, such as secretary Iris (Drea de Matteo), and criminals (among them John Leguizamo and Ja Rule) to help defend the station.
The film takes a while before it hits its stride. Those who aren't immediately turned off by traditional burnt-out cop Hawke or the I-only-like-bad-boys ways of de Matteo may find the early fight scene in a packed church hard to believe. Eventually, it seems as if the movie and its actors are aware enough of the film's clich??d action roots to not set it as a focal point, and, coincidentally, that's where the movie gets interesting-the plot is able to move, the characters are able to interact and conflict with each other and the movie in general becomes more interesting.
Hawke and Fishburne share the spotlight well, and they seem to play off of each other on just the right tone, despite starring as characters which have been played and explored over and over again. Hawke seems to take every person's sacrifice personally, which is hard to do in what could have just as easily been a blood-bath movie. But Fishburne is able to lend credibility to lines that would make other actors squeamish. This man has done Shakespeare-maybe he should get away from the action films that ""The Matrix"" has led him to and go back to drama.
""Assualt on Precinct 13"" is a remake of a John Carpenter film by the same title, which is a remake of John Wayne's ""Rio Bravo."" While it is an enjoyable action film with some fun twists along the way, the intrigue of ""Assault"" stops there. Unlike the memorable characters that fought at the Alamo, it's hard to believe people will shout ""remember Jake Roenick"" for generations to come.
