John Carpenter's second feature, this little B-movie is his 'modern retelling' of 'Rio Bravo'. A man chases and kill a gang member who killed his daughter, and them hides in a closing-down precinct. This leads to an all-out assault from the gang, as the people still there (some officers and prisoners) have to team up to defend themselves.
I usually love Carpenter's films, but I have to say this one was disappointing. And you can't even blame his inexperience, considering he had already done the excellent 'Dark Star'. He seems really confused here.
The characters are not only wooden, the gang members are more like zombies. They don't act like living beings (how one reacted when shot by the father, for example), they merely rush without thinking at times, and are flat-out expressionless. Carpenter admitted to taking inspiration from 'Night of the Living Dead', but come on: this was supposedly a realistic film and they are supposedly humans, you can't really make it work like that.
Furthermore, they ARE shown to be intelligent. The way the gang cleverly organizes the attack is a total contradiction from the kamikaze-like actions they make a moment later; even the 'explanation' makes no damn sense. For the most part the assault looks EXACTLY like your typical zombie film's 'characters in a building holding off a zombie horde' scene.
The other characters, while not suffering from that, aren't any good either. The dialogues they are given are extremely bad and inconsistent with the situation at times, and the acting only makes it worse. Darwin Joston, for example, is totally lacking in the wit his character's dialogues seem to imply he has; Austin Stoker and Laurie Zimmer are also bad, and only Tony Burton is salvageable among the main actors.
I would like to know if Carpenter (or anyone who worked in this film) has ever used a silenced weapon. It is a common problem in films, especially spy ones, but since it is made a major plot point here it bugged me. This 'a silenced weapon can not even be heard' is RIDICULOUS; a silenced gun still reaches around 120db, or as loud as (if not more than) a car honk to anyone close-by. The idea that no one nearby would hear it, especially when they are shooting WINDOWS (which is also quite loud), makes this lose a lot of credibility (as one character even states, how the **** is a shooting in the middle of a city not being heard by anyone?!).
Despite all its flaws, the movie still has some of Carpenter's usual qualities. The movie takes its time in the beginning, sure, but Carpenter knows how to create a mood; the assault is quite tense (despite its silly moments and sometimes out-of-place dialogue), as well as some earlier scenes (even if they, too, make no damn sense, like the killing of the girl). The assault itself is not quite bad either; despite the zombie horde similarities, it is quite fun. The soundtrack is also excellent, the only flawless thing in the entire film.
The movie has its moments, but overall it is far too idiotic to work. Had 'Assault on Precinct 13' been a zombie invasion film rather than a cop/gang action/thriller, it could have been successful. As it stands, though, this is little more than a silly B-movie, and Carpenter is way above this kind of thing.
I usually love Carpenter's films, but I have to say this one was disappointing. And you can't even blame his inexperience, considering he had already done the excellent 'Dark Star'. He seems really confused here.
The characters are not only wooden, the gang members are more like zombies. They don't act like living beings (how one reacted when shot by the father, for example), they merely rush without thinking at times, and are flat-out expressionless. Carpenter admitted to taking inspiration from 'Night of the Living Dead', but come on: this was supposedly a realistic film and they are supposedly humans, you can't really make it work like that.
Furthermore, they ARE shown to be intelligent. The way the gang cleverly organizes the attack is a total contradiction from the kamikaze-like actions they make a moment later; even the 'explanation' makes no damn sense. For the most part the assault looks EXACTLY like your typical zombie film's 'characters in a building holding off a zombie horde' scene.
The other characters, while not suffering from that, aren't any good either. The dialogues they are given are extremely bad and inconsistent with the situation at times, and the acting only makes it worse. Darwin Joston, for example, is totally lacking in the wit his character's dialogues seem to imply he has; Austin Stoker and Laurie Zimmer are also bad, and only Tony Burton is salvageable among the main actors.
I would like to know if Carpenter (or anyone who worked in this film) has ever used a silenced weapon. It is a common problem in films, especially spy ones, but since it is made a major plot point here it bugged me. This 'a silenced weapon can not even be heard' is RIDICULOUS; a silenced gun still reaches around 120db, or as loud as (if not more than) a car honk to anyone close-by. The idea that no one nearby would hear it, especially when they are shooting WINDOWS (which is also quite loud), makes this lose a lot of credibility (as one character even states, how the **** is a shooting in the middle of a city not being heard by anyone?!).
Despite all its flaws, the movie still has some of Carpenter's usual qualities. The movie takes its time in the beginning, sure, but Carpenter knows how to create a mood; the assault is quite tense (despite its silly moments and sometimes out-of-place dialogue), as well as some earlier scenes (even if they, too, make no damn sense, like the killing of the girl). The assault itself is not quite bad either; despite the zombie horde similarities, it is quite fun. The soundtrack is also excellent, the only flawless thing in the entire film.
The movie has its moments, but overall it is far too idiotic to work. Had 'Assault on Precinct 13' been a zombie invasion film rather than a cop/gang action/thriller, it could have been successful. As it stands, though, this is little more than a silly B-movie, and Carpenter is way above this kind of thing.