Assault On Precinct 13

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3 stars out of 4, 2009-01-03
The Bottom Line: br / br /A gritty low-budget thriller, Assault on Precinct 13 offers interesting characters, well-directed action sequences and high levels of atmosphere and tension--anyone who likes this kind of movie could hardly do better.

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One of the best horror movies of its time, 2008-10-24
A street gang of seemingly unlimited strength and size lays siege on a police station, when the gang's leader is killed by a man seeking refuge in the station. After it becomes apparent that no help is going to come, the one police officer in the station, a rookie on his first night on the job (Austin Stoker), finds that he must join forces with the two prisoners in his care, if he ever hopes to survive. br / br /"Assault on Precinct 13" is meant to be horror director John Carpenter's homage to "Rio Bravo" and I can see the similarities between the two films, but the movies that "Assault on Precinct 13" really brought to my mind, while watching it, are zombie films such as "Night of the Living Dead" and "Dawn of the Dead". "Assault on Precinct 13" has all of the elements of a zombie film: it has a group of people trapped in a building that's cut off from the rest of society; a seemingly unstoppable "army" of villains who don't care about being killed and who never speak or have any personality (not much different from zombies); and a grand finale, where our heroes have no choice but to escape the building, while being attacked by dozens and dozens of "zombies". Viewed as a horror film, "Assault on Precinct 13" is one of the best horror films of it's time, and in my opinion, far superior to "Night of the Living Dead" or even Carpenter's next film, "Halloween". Even as an action film, "Assault on Precinct 13" is a pretty good movie, but I don't really see it as one. br / br /This film is not without its fault. "Assault on Precinct 13" was made on a very low budget and it shows. The effects aren't as impressive as those that most action fans are probably used to, and many of the actors seem inexperienced and second rate. Nevertheless, the two leads, Stoker and Darwin Joston (as Napoleon Wilson, the prisoner who teams with the police officer), although just as inexperienced as many of the other actors, are still compelling enough to make you genuinely care about their characters. The script also leaves much to be desired (some of the passages in it are so bad that they are funny), but once you get into the film, that doesn't really seem to matter and I was interested to note that one exchange between Wilson and another character, towards the end of the film, is almost identical to an exchange between George Clooney and Juliet Lewis in "From Dusk Till Dawn", more evidence to suggest that this is, in fact, a horror movie. br /

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Carpenter's best, 2008-09-22
Forget Halloween, forget The Thing, Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 is his veritable masterpiece. It is endlessly cool, boasts his best soundtrack and his tightest direction, and happens to be one of the best thrillers ever made. Oh, and of all things, it's a remake of Rio Bravo! Sadly the soundtrack--one of the best soundtracks of all time--is almost impossible to obtain. The look and feel of this movie is unbeatable. Darwin Josten is incredible as Napolean, and, as Tarantino has said, it's amazing this guy did not become a big star. He's the spitting image of Chris Cooper.

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Remodelling a classic noir, 2008-07-21