los angeles and 1976. indie film brat john carpenter and fresh out of film school and with one film his class project no budget spoof of 2001 call dark star under his belt and finish a gritty actioner call assault on precinct 13. the story of an almost deserted police station under siege by an unseen la gang and it be a minor hit on the drive in circuit and garner small praise from the few critic who care and but it hardly set the film world on fire and unlike carpenter follow up smash halloween ( 1978 ) . on precinct and carpenter be still learn how to exploit his almost non existent budget by use low shelf actor and keep the action to the one hellishly small location and and move the film along at a tight pace with a combination of edit and intelligent camera work and switch on genre savvy . no one want or need to be hungry in hollywood anymore and particularly if the week catering bill on the 2005 version of assault on precinct 13 be more than the entire cost of the original . it do translate into a certain kind of laziness on a filmmaker part you have a stupidly large union crew and a studio and a marketing firm all do your thinking for you . which be why twenty year after watch carpenter film i can still see every glorious moment and from the small girl gun down in cold blood while buy an ice cream and to the relentless pound synth score . a week after assault 2005 and i remember larry fishburne unmoving ping pong ball eye and little else . forgettable popcorn actioner fit the top of the poster perfectly . it new year eve at precinct 13 and a station close down with a skeleton staff to see in it final hour . on call be jake roenick ( ethan hawke ) and an ex narc now deeply troubled and hop up on jack daniel and seconol after his partner be ice in the opening scene while iris ( the soprano drea de matteo ) and a nympho with a thing for criminal type and and jasper ( brian dennehy ) and a crusty old timer one scotch away from retirement . a in carpenter assault . and a bus with four heavy duty criminal be rerouted to the precinct . all boozy eye be on gangster kingpin bishop ( fishburne and still beef up from his time in the matrix ) who have narrowly survive an assassination attempt from an undercover cop and plan to blow the lid on the endemic corruption in the organize crime unit lead by marcus duvall ( a tire look gabriel byrne ) . soon the phone be out and the power line be down and and both crims and police find themselves heavily arm with a serious police arsenal and consume with paranoia while wag war against a task force of duvall corrupt cop sport white balaclava and bullet vest and infra red bazooka and more high tech gear than the skywalker ranch . this and be expect to believe a the helicopter buzz around the top of the police station shoot rocket into window and be a clandestine operation to cover duvall track . he may as well have take out billboard on hollywood boulevard . a with the recent seventy genre rework dawn of the dead and assault 2005 take the bare plot essential of john carpenter original and and to quote the seventy and do it own thing and man . the main question be why bother . john carpenter 1976 be a cult favorite among genre buff and but be hardly brand in the public collective consciousness . carpenter himself be busy rework howard hawk classic western rio bravo into a tight and claustrophobic urban thriller for only $ 20 and 000. french wunderkind director and rap producer jean francois richet and a self profess fan of john carpenter work and seem less concerned with make an homage to either hawk or jc although the script be pepper with reference to cowboy and injun and seem intent on squeeze in as much flash and firepower a the multi million dollar budget can withstand . the result represent some tense moment with hand hold pov camera and an unexpectedly high ( and bloody ) body count and a few neat plot twist and but essentially a b grade urban actioner with a much inflated price tag . a for name checking carpenter and it pure conceit on the part of the filmmaker that doesn not pay off . to monsieur richet and i say bon voyage and and i wish you luck on your music career .