Assault On Precinct 13 (2004)

I’d seen the previews for Assault on Precinct 13, and had wanted to see it almost from the get-go. Laurence Fishburne is always fun to watch, and Gabriel Byrne has managed to do pretty well in the movies I’ve seen him in (End of Days, Ghost Ship (2002), The Usual Suspects).

And then there was Ethan Hawke – I’ve tried to stay away from his films since seeing Reality Bites and Before Sunrise almost back to back. After that horrible experience (which led me to reconsider how much grease someone can have in their hair – wow, that’s disgusting. When was the last time you washed Ethan? 1981?). But, with Laurence Fishburne and Gabriel Byrne in the cast, and an exciting action-packed plot, how much could he really mess it up?

Ethan Hawke has grown as an actor since the last time I’ve seen one of his movies. True, he changed his haircut years back to the spiky do that he continues to sport (taking care of some of the grease problem he had), but that’s not all. He’s actually a pretty decent actor underneath all that grease, apparently. Is he really leading man material? Not really, but he managed to do his part to keep the viewer hooked into Assault on Precinct 13.

Laurence Fishburne and Gabriel Byrne lead the rest of a surprisingly recognizable cast. Laurence keeps his cool charm throughout the film, almost able to glide along a little on the great acting he’s done in the past. He’s not at his best in Assault on Precinct 13, but even on his bad days he’s better than a lot of actors. He and Ethan both set the pace of the acting for the rest of the cast: good enough, but no real standouts.

Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo, Ja Rule and the rest follow Laurence and Ethan’s example, and act decently enough, but not as good as they could. The only exception is Gabriel Byrne, who despite being the main bad guy of the film, is only on-screen for about 15 minutes or so overall. He leaves the rest to his minions, with him staying out of sight in the background. With such little screen time, he doesn’t really get a chance to do any real acting, and mostly just reacts and try to exude the same cool Laurence does – and fails (if you want to see Gabriel Byrne do some acting, check out the above-mentioned films instead).

Assault on Precinct 13 grabs the viewer’s attention even before the opening credits, and manages to keep them interested until the end credits begin to role. While the actors help, they can’t do it alone, and a good plot makes their jobs much easier.

Blurring the lines between good and bad, Assault on Precinct 13 throws together a cop and a cop killer (among others) against a whole squad of bad cops. Could they have done more with that setup? Oh most definitely, but it wasn’t that kind of film. This film aims to be action-packed excitement, and that’s what it goes for.

Sure, there’s a little bit of maturing that occurs within the main characters, and sure, their lives are changed because of the experience, but they don’t really delve deep into the issues they must confront. Rather, they skim over those issues and concentrate more on an “us against them” feel. It makes for an entertaining film, but it’s a film that is easily forgotten after the credits roll (and the plot twists are visible miles away).

Is Assault on Precinct 13 a truly standout film? No – despite what the extra features on the DVD try to make it out to be. The filmmakers set out to bring an action-packed flick to theaters, and that’s exactly what they did. Laurence Fishburne, Ethan Hawke, Gabriel Byrne and the rest of the cast don’t give it their all, but the action and tension of the film help the viewer to overlook that.

Assault on Precinct 13 is a typical action movie: it’s entertaining for two hours….and doesn’t involve your brain much at all. A decent film to rent one Friday night – but definitely not the best movie of Laurence or Gabriel’s careers.

It does, however, make me want to check out Gattaca (1997) – could I have missed a decent movie in my Ethan Hawke protest phase? Guess I’ll have to find out…someday.