eShop USA > VHS > Assault on Precinct 13
Assault on Precinct 13
List Price: $29.98Our Price: $28.48 You Save: $1.50 ( 5%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 0096896299338
Format: Color, NTSC
Label: Universal Home Video
Languages: English (Original Language), Serbo-Croatian (Original Language),
Manufacturer: Universal Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Universal Home Video
Release Date: May 10, 2005
Running Time: 109 minutes
Studio: Universal Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: January 19, 2005
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Action buffs will have a fine time with the spray of bullets, shattering glass, and pyrotechnic silliness that makes up the bulk of Assault on Precinct 13. Updated from the little-known cops-and-robbers classic John Carpenter made in 1976 (two years before he made his name with Halloween), this high-concept thriller is mostly a lowbrow kill-fest, and is very happy with itself for being so efficient in both categories. A decrepit police station on its last night before retirement--New Year's Eve, no less--plays unexpected home to a gang of criminals who become snowbound in the basement lockup. Another mysterious gang of people who stealthily gather in the blizzard outside want one of the particularly nasty criminals (Laurence Fishburne) dead, and they'll take the rest of the precinct down too, by golly. The odd lot of characters trapped inside include a burned-out sergeant (Ethan Hawke), a sexpot secretary (post-Sopranos Drea de Matteo), an even sexier police psychologist (Maria Bello), and various other good guys and bad guys who variously go down in blazes of guts, glory, bullets, and fire. Hawke and Fishburne are opposite sides of the coin: the law, and the bathroom scale. Their need to partner in order to survive the guns outside is the movie's moral conflict, and both actors chew on Precinct 13's peeling walls and scuffed floors to drive the point home every chance they get. Obvious filmmaking fakery abounds in everything from the irksome snowstorm, frequent gunshots to the head, and a shadowy forest that conveniently presents itself in an industrial section of Detroit for the climactic showdown. No matter, this Assault is for non-thinkers who want blood and gunpowder, with no messy slowdowns for logic, please.--Ted Fry
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - An Action-Packed Remake!!!
I think I like this version better than the original! It has more action, it's New Year's Eve, it's snowing! At a rundown precinct, four prisoners are dropped because of weather conditions, after the New Year's ball drops, the sh#t hits the fan. Crooked cops are coming to kill Bishop, a cop-killer. The crooked cops will kill anyone who gets in their way. The good cops must receive help from the prisoners if they want to make it out alive! If you love action, you'll love ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13!!! ... Read More
Rating:  - Better Than the Original
As much as I love John Carpenter, his first film was a low budget affair that barely scraped by. No explanation was given as to why the psycho gang kept trying to kill the police, or why they didn't die from all the gunshots. This version actually has a story to back up all the action, and pulls it off surprisingly well. Lawrence Fishburne's character embodies the American gangster like no one else could. The reveal that cops are actually attacking them is one well conceived and well executed. ... Read More
Rating: - STAND AND DELIVER
Fans of director John Carpenter are in turmoil. First off, they saw the franchise he began, HALLOWEEN, turned over to various directors who made some decent and some not so decent films. Now they are preparing for a remake of his horror film THE FOG. And somewhere in between this movie, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, became a remake. And we all know what fans of original films think of remakes.
As a fan of Carpenter, I decided never to be this way. I always approach a movie with an open mind. ... Read More
Rating:  - good for a plane ride
This is not a review of the movie per se , but more so for the umd product. I got a new copy through Amazon for $10 , which included the shipping costs. The movie is not enhanced for the 16 x 9 format so you get the original 2.4 : 1 aspect ratio. This means the black bars at top and bottom of screen. On the medium or wide shots the details are hard to see as the action takes place at night and the movie uses a blue color palette. Otherwise , sound and video are very good. Disc includes previews , deleted ... Read More
Rating: - More Die Hard 2 than Carpenter, but not bad at all
The 2005 Assault on Precinct 13 is an above-average remake, an efficient Saturday Night Special that never quite gets the adrenaline pumping in the action scenes as much as it could but doesn't trash memories of Carpenter's no-budget classic as much as expected. If anything, the template here is more a scaled down Die Hard 2 minus the planes, even going so far as to borrow both central plot twist and one of the more memorable killings. Ethan Hawke is in Tom Cruise-lite mode - all the focused self-righteous ... Read More
Related Categories:
| |
 |
