Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Jean-François Richet

Writers (WGA):

John Carpenter (earlier film)
James DeMonaco (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 January 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Unite and fight.

Plot:

A police sergeant must rally the cops and prisoners together to protect themselves on New Year's Eve, just as corrupt policeman surround the station with the intent of killing all to keep their deception in the ranks.

Plot Keywords:

New Year's Eve | Police | Police Station | Prisoner | Deception

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Ethan Hawke	...	Sgt. Jake Roenick
Laurence Fishburne	...	Marion Bishop
Gabriel Byrne	...	Capt. Marcus Duvall
Maria Bello	...	Dr. Alex Sabian
Drea de Matteo	...	Iris Ferry
John Leguizamo	...	Beck
Brian Dennehy	...	Sgt. Jasper O'Shea
Ja Rule	...	Smiley (as Jeffrey 'Ja Rule' Atkins)
Currie Graham	...	Mike Kahane
Aisha Hinds	...	Anna
Matt Craven	...	Officer Kevin Capra
Fulvio Cecere	...	Ray Portnow
Peter Bryant	...	Lt. Holloway
Kim Coates	...	Officer Rosen
Hugh Dillon	...	Tony
Tig Fong	...	Danny Barbero
Jasmin Geljo	...	Marko
Jessica Greco	...	Coral
Dorian Harewood	...	Gil
Philip Marshall	...	Hagen
Arnold Pinnock	...	Carlyle
Edward A. Queffelec	...	Bronco Gunman (as Ed Queffelec)
Robert Hayley	...	Sniper James
Courtney Cunningham	...	Cop #1
Leford Lawes	...	Precinct 21 Cop #1
Roman Podhora	...	Cop #3
Gilson Lubin	...	Mover #2
Brian King	...	Fireman #2
Laurent Richet	...	Undercover Cop
J.C. Kenny	...	Reporter #1
Sasha Roiz	...	Jason Elias
Ray Kahnert	...	Priest
Dave Tommasini	...	Pilot
Jeff Ironi	...	Fireman #1
Melissa Thomson	...	Lawyer
Darren Frost	...	Mover #1
Al Vrkljan	...	Sniper Sebastien (as Alan Vrkljan)
Titus Welliver	...	Milos
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
DTeflon	...	Swat Officer #2 (uncredited)

Directed by
Jean-François Richet

Writing credits (WGA)
John Carpenter		(earlier film)
James DeMonaco		(screenplay)

Produced by
Don Carmody	....	executive producer
Pascal Caucheteux	....	producer
James DeMonaco	....	co-producer
Joseph Kaufman	....	executive producer
Sebastien Lemercier	....	executive producer (as Sebastien Kurt Lemercier)
Jeffrey Silver	....	producer
Stephane Sperry	....	producer

Original Music by
Graeme Revell

Cinematography by
Robert Gantz

Film Editing by
Bill Pankow

Casting by
Kerry Barden
Billy Hopkins
Suzanne Smith

Production Design by
Paul D. Austerberry		(as Paul Denham Austerberry)

Art Direction by
Nigel Churcher

Set Decoration by
Steven Essam

Costume Design by
Vicki Graef
Georgina Yarhi

Makeup Department
James D. Brown	....	key hair stylist (as James Brown)
Mario Cacioppo	....	makeup artist: Mr. Fishburne
Francine Francis-Lee	....	hair stylist: Mr. Fishburne
Paul Jones	....	special makeup effects artist
Fina Khan	....	assistant hair stylist
Donald Mowat	....	key makeup artist (as Donald J. Mowat)
Edelgard K. Pfluegl	....	assistant makeup artist (as Edelgard Pfluegl)

Production Management
Gregor Hutchison	....	post-production supervisor
Laurencina Lam	....	post-production manager
Deb LeFaive	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Simon Board	....	second assistant director
Penny Charter	....	second assistant director: second unit
Raymond J. Duff	....	third assistant director: second unit
Pierre Henry	....	first assistant director
Agnieszka Kroskowska	....	third assistant director (as Agnieszka Poninska)
Cameron Kuc	....	third assistant director
Michael Peleshok	....	third assistant director: second unit (as Mike Peleshok)
Michael Peleshok	....	trainee assistant director (as Mike Peleshok)
Michael Pohorly	....	third assistant director
Martin Walters	....	first assistant director: second unit

Art Department
Theresa Buckley	....	props buyer
David G. Fremlin	....	set designer
Jennifer Heimpel	....	assistant art director
Ron Hewitt	....	property master
Michael Huschka	....	assistant property master
Henry Ilola	....	carpenter
Mayumi Konishi	....	set designer
Matthew Lammerich	....	key scenic artist
Aeschylus Poulos	....	art department coordinator
Dawn Rivard	....	set buyer
Jeremy Simser	....	storyboard artist
Phillip Tellez	....	construction coordinator

Sound Department
Steve Baine	....	foley artist
Todd Beckett	....	sound re-recording mixer
Denis Bellingham	....	boom operator
Alex Bullick	....	assistant sound editor
Lee de Lang	....	sound effects editor
Chris Dustin	....	re-recording assistant
Keith Elliott	....	sound re-recording mixer
Paula Fairfield	....	sound designer
Paula Fairfield	....	supervising sound editor
Gina Gyles	....	foley assistant
Craig Henighan	....	sound designer
Craig Henighan	....	supervising sound editor
David Lee	....	production sound mixer
Jason McFarling	....	boom operator
Matthew McKenzie	....	adr recordist
Colin McLellan	....	adr recordist
Carla Murray	....	sound effects designer
Carla Murray	....	sound effects editor
Chris Navarro	....	adr recordist
Jason Perreira	....	re-recording assistant
Peter Persaud	....	foley recordist
Jill Purdy	....	supervising dialogue & adr editor
Nathan Robitaille	....	sound editor
Nathan Robitaille	....	sound effects editor
Steve F.B. Smith	....	stereo sound consultant: Dolby
Eric Thompson	....	adr mixer
Marilee Yorston	....	foley assistant
Mark Zsifkovits	....	sound re-recording mixer

Special Effects by
Warren Appleby	....	pyrotechnic supervisor
Jason Board	....	special effects supervisor
Mike Kavanagh	....	key snow effects
Arthur Langevin	....	pyrotechnician
John MacGillivray	....	special effects coordinator
Laird McMurray	....	snow special effects coordinator
Shane Million	....	special effects technician
Jeff Skochko	....	special effects technician

Visual Effects by
Rebecca Adams	....	production coordinator: Soho VFX
Douglas Aiken	....	digital compositor: trailer, S4 Studios
Brian Anderson	....	3D animator: Mr. X Inc.
Berj Bannayan	....	software engineer: SOHO VFX
Barb Benoit	....	digital compositor: Mr. X Inc.
Dennis Berardi	....	visual effects supervisor
Kristy Blackwell	....	CG supervisor: Mr. X Inc.
Dominik Bochenski	....	additional compositing: Mr. X Inc.
Kris Brockman	....	compositor: Mr. X Inc.
Mark Chong	....	technical developer: Mr. X Inc.
Patrick Clancey	....	digital opticals
Shawney Cohen	....	digital effects artist: Mr. X Inc. (as Sean Cohen)
Drake Conrad	....	scanning recording
Donnie Creighton	....	digital intermediate assistant producer
Laurence Cymet	....	digital compositor: SOHO VFX
Julia Deakin	....	additional compositing: Mr. X Inc.
Rob Del Ciancio	....	digital compositor: Mr. X Inc.
Bonnie Dickson	....	compositor: Mr. X Inc.
Mike Diltz	....	compositing assistant: Mr. X Inc.
Jeremy Dineen	....	visual effects animator: Mr. X Inc.
Sasha Dragun	....	systems administrator: Mr. X Inc.
Jason Giberson	....	scanning and recording
Shane Glading	....	lighting/rendering: Mr. X Inc.
Rob Gyorgy	....	digital effects artist
Elizabeth Holmes	....	digital compositor: SOHO VFX
Noel Hooper	....	digital compositor: Mr. X Inc.
Bryan Jones	....	lead compositor: Mr. X Inc.
Ntana Key	....	digital intermediate color assistant
Perry M. Kimura	....	digital scanning and recording: EFILM
Michael Kowalski	....	producer: Soho VFX
Jef Lonn	....	digital compositor: Mr. X Inc.
Brian Lui	....	digital compositor: Mr. X Inc.
Allan Magled	....	visual effects supervisor: Soho VFX
Chad Malbon	....	producer: Technicolor
Seth Martiniuk	....	compositor: Mr. X Inc.
Sarah McMurdo	....	visual effects production manager
Daniel Mizuguchi	....	3D animator: Mr. X Inc.
Mike Mombourquette	....	digital compositor: SOHO VFX
Saybian Morgan	....	look development technical director: Mr. X Inc
Mike Mulock	....	3D animator: Mr. X Inc.
Sean O'Hara	....	compositor
Marco Polsinelli	....	additional compositing: Mr. X Inc.
Vladimir Popovic	....	systems administrator: Mr. X Inc.
Aaron Pozzer	....	digital artist: Mr. X Inc.
Aaron Pozzer	....	lighting/rendering: Mr. X Inc.
Matt Ralph	....	digital effects artist: Mr. X Inc.
Eric J. Robertson	....	visual effects producer: Mr. X Inc.
Linda Rose	....	in-house accountant: Mr. X Inc.
Chris Ross	....	digital effects scanning
Steven J. Scott	....	supervising digital colorist: EFilm
Keith Sellers	....	digital compositor: Soho VFX
Vicki Silva	....	digital compositor: Mr. X Inc.
David Singer	....	operations Manager: Mr. X Inc.
Dev Singh	....	coordinator: Mr. X Inc.
Karl Sisson	....	3D animator: Mr. X Inc.
Karl Sisson	....	CG artist: Mr. X Inc.
Jason Snea	....	compositor
Mark Stepanek	....	lighting/rendering: Mr. X Inc.
Tamara Stone	....	digital artist: Mr. X Inc.
Derek Sunderland	....	digital artist
Hoa Tran	....	3D animator: Mr. X Inc.
Mark Tureski	....	digital effects artist
Aaron Weintraub	....	digital effects supervisor: Mr. X
Michael Wile	....	lead compositor: SOHO VFX
Sarah Wormsbecher	....	visual effects project manager: Technicolor
Kyle Yoneda	....	3D animator: Mr. X Inc.
Motassem Younes	....	digital opticals
Thomas Mathai	....	data manager (uncredited)

Stunts
Lloyd Adams	....	stunts
Taryn Ash	....	stunts
Brad Bennett	....	stunts
Marco Bianco	....	stunts
Donovan Boucher	....	stunts
Shane Cardwell	....	stunts
Dean Copkov	....	stunts
Scott Douglas	....	stunts
Chris Frampton	....	stunts
Tom Galacka	....	stunts
Catherine Gourdier	....	stunts
Howard Green	....	stunts
Curtis Hibbert	....	stunt double
Paul Holder	....	stunts
Brian Jagersky	....	stunts
Mic Jones	....	fire stunt rigger
Mic Jones	....	stunt rigger (as Mick Jones)
Steve Lucescu	....	stunt coordinator
Steve Lucescu	....	stunts
Jim Lyttle	....	stunts
Egerton Marcus	....	stunts
Christopher McGuire	....	stunts (as Chris McGuire)
Dwayne McLean	....	stunts
Moses Nyarko	....	stunts
Rick Parker	....	stunts
Sue Parker	....	stunts (as Susan Parker)
Edward A. Queffelec	....	assistant stunt coordinator
Edward A. Queffelec	....	utility stunts
Robert Racki	....	stunts
Vanessa Reid	....	stunts
John Stoneham Jr.	....	stunts
Bryan Thomas	....	stunts
Robert Thomas	....	stunts
Len Wagner	....	stunts
Maxine Dumont	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Richard Allen	....	gaffer
Brendan Bresnahan	....	key video assist operator
Craig Campbell	....	grip
Thomas Care	....	dolly grip
Elizabeth Caruana	....	second assistant: "c" camera
Jayson Clute	....	first assistant camera
Louis de Ernsted	....	director of photography: second unit
Renato Di Giuseppe	....	camera operator: "c" camera
Bryan Forde	....	gaffer
Carson T. Foster	....	grip
Ben Gervais	....	video assist operator
Tony Guerin	....	camera operator
Greg Haddow	....	rigging best boy electric
Michael Hall	....	additional camera operator
Mark W. Hindle	....	video playback operator
Mark Hryma	....	camera operator: Wescam camera
Marcel Janisse	....	assistant camera
Marek Krawczyk	....	rigging gaffer
Andris Matiss	....	Steadicam operator
Andris Matiss	....	camera operator: "b" camera
Monty Montgomerie	....	key grip
Jeff Petro	....	assistant camera: Wescam camera
Dean Stinchcombe	....	first assistant camera: "b" camera

Casting Department
Robin D. Cook	....	casting: Canada
Sara Kay	....	casting associate: Toronto
Deedra Ricketts	....	special casting
Jane Rogers	....	extras casting
Paul Schnee	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Richard Krough	....	costume set supervisor

Editorial Department
Michael Hatzer	....	color timer
Lara Johnston	....	associate editor
Curtis Lindersmith	....	digital intermediate editor
Tom Mayclim	....	negative cutter
Arthur Montreuil	....	color timer
Lorraine Samuel	....	post-production coordinator
Steven J. Scott	....	supervising digital colorist

Music Department
Kevin Banks	....	music editor: temp music/conform
Christine Bergren	....	music legal and clearance
Mark Curry	....	scoring mixer
Dominik Hauser	....	music preparation (as Dominic Hauser)
John Houlihan	....	music supervisor
Season Kent	....	music coordinator
Mario Klemens	....	conductor
Bill Meyers	....	orchestrator
Gregg Nestor	....	music preparation
Ashley Revell	....	music editor
David E. Russo	....	music programmer (as David Russo)
Tim Simonec	....	orchestrator

Transportation Department
Lee Bryan	....	picture car coordinator
Rickey Giallonardo	....	picture car captain
Ian C. Harris	....	driver (uncredited)

Other crew
Drazen Baric	....	assistant location manager
Beverley Bremner	....	key craft service
James Burke	....	production assistant
Nuno Capitao de Salles	....	personal trainer (as Nuno De Sallas)
Jane Conway	....	animal wrangler
Meg Davies	....	assistant: Mr. Silver (as Meghan Davies)
Michelle Dunton	....	rights and clearances
Ava DuVernay	....	publicity consultant
Jay Floyd	....	clearance administrator
Melissa Girotti	....	assistant production coordinator
Nadia Guglieri	....	second script supervisor
Sarah Johnson	....	assistant: Mr. Silver
Michael Kessler	....	production assistant
Kyle Kitagawa	....	production assistant
Robert A. Levine	....	unit publicist
Jessica Lukian	....	assistant: Mr. Richet
Jonathan Matthews	....	location manager
Eleanor Mendes	....	production secretary
Stephen Milo	....	production assistant
Sandy Morrow	....	script supervisor: splinter unit
Tony Muro	....	publicist
Valentin Nedialkov	....	weapon specialist
Pete Nilson	....	location security
Sarah Nilson	....	location security (as Sarah Weight)
Jan Nizen	....	production accountant
Anthony David Pace	....	key location production assistant
Regina Petrik	....	key craft service
John Rakich	....	location scout: pre-production
Dana Ramsay	....	production coordinator
Pascual Romero	....	publicity and promotions
Dug Rotstein	....	script supervisor (as Douglas Rotstein)
Dave Ian Smith	....	fire safety officer
Coleen Snyder	....	second assistant accountant
Carla Spizziri	....	first assistant accountant
Carla Spizziri	....	post-production accountant
Alan Sutton	....	fire safety
Bromley Switzer	....	assistant: Mr. Gantz
Charles Taylor	....	armorer
Dave Tommasini	....	aerial helicopter pilot
Hayley Tyson	....	assistant: Mr. Carmody
Al Vrkljan	....	armorer
Greg Whiteside	....	on-set satellite internet technician
James Ireland	....	production assistant (uncredited)

Thanks
Elizabeth Dreyer	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Rogue Pictures
• Liaison Films
• Why Not Productions
• Biscayne Pictures
• Focus Features

Distributors

• Rogue Pictures (2005) (USA) (theatrical)
• Compagnia Distribuzione Internazionale (CDI) (2005) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Constantin Film (2005) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Entertainment Film Distributors (2005) (UK) (theatrical)
• Independent Films (2005) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Metropolitan Filmexport (2005) (France) (theatrical)
• Odeon Films (2005) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Odeon (2005) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Shaw Organisation (2005) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (2005) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (2005) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Alliance Atlantis Home Video (2005) (Canada) (DVD)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Entertainment in Video (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• Highlight Film (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (VHS)
• Veronica (2007) (Netherlands) (TV) (first national airing)

Special Effects

• Acme Effects (pyrotechnic special effects)
• Laird McMurray Film Service (snow effects)
• Mr. X (digital visual effects)
• Soho VFX (additional visual effects)
• Technicolor Creative Services (additional compositing and visual effects)
• Cine-Byte Imaging (digital opticals)
• Paul Jones Effects Studio (special makeup effects)

Other Companies

• Hyperactive Broadcast  editing equipment
• AON  insurance
• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  dollies
• Cine-Byte Imaging  digital film scanning
• Cine-Byte Imaging  digital opticals
• Deluxe Post-Production  post-production facilities
• Deva Studios  title design: main titles (as Devastudios)
• Donna Daniels Public Relations  publicity
• EFilm  digital intermediate
• Hand Prop  props supplied by
• Internet On Set  on-set satellite internet
• Movie Armaments Group  weapons and tactical gear supplied by
• Now Clear This!  clearance services (as Now Clear This Research)
• Pivotal Post  Avid editing equipment provided by
• Rudolfinum Concert Hall  score recording
• Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton  production legal
• Starcraft  craft service
• Urban Marketing Corporation of America (UMCA)  field publicity
• Varèse Sarabande  soundtrack published by
• VideoStorm UK Ltd.  digital video assist

Also Known As:

Assaut sur le central 13 (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and language throughout, and for some drug content.

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA | France

Language:

English | Serbian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:16 | Brazil:16 | Malaysia:18SG | Portugal:M/16 | Spain:18 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:16 | Ireland:16 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:R-13 | Singapore:M18 | Singapore:NC-16 (cut) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #41325) | Ireland:18 (video rating) | South Korea:18

Filming Locations:

Detroit, Michigan, USA

Company:

Rogue Pictures

Trivia:

Mark Wahlberg was originally offered the role of Jake Roenick but turned it down.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the end, when Fishburne walks away and the other cops are coming, it's dark. In the next shot, it's light.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Jake Roenick: Listen to me. What are we talking about, really? Getting high? No. We're talking about a journey, man. A subconscious safari. A mental expedition, OK, a mind trek. This planet has been raped, pillaged and fucked! And the mind is the only uncharted territory
[picks up cocaine]
Jake Roenick: And this shit is the ship. It's the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria and you... are fuckin' Magellan.
[spills a little bit of cocaine]
Jake Roenick: Oh fuck... I spilled some.
[laughs hysterically]
Jake Roenick: So what do you say my Serbian motherfucking friend? Do you want to take a trip or do you want to sit on your ass?
Marko: Yeah, OK, Napoleon... let's see what you got.

Movie Connections:

Features New Year's Rockin' Eve 2005 (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Amazing Grace

Nowehere near as good as the original, but worth a viewing

A remake of John Carpenter's superior film of the same title from 1976, Assault on Precinct 13 concerns a siege on a largely abandoned police station, which is related to the presence of a notorious criminal, Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne). It's left up to a ragtag group of police employees and criminals to defend themselves.

I should start by noting that I absolutely love Carpenter's original film. In my view it is one of his best, perfectly capturing the suburban desolation of 1970s Los Angeles, and exquisitely suspenseful and horrifying, even though it's not really a horror film. Despite that, when this remake of Assault on Precinct 13 began, I had high hopes for it. The first scene is well directed, well shot, with excellent dialogue. It turns into an intense action scene at just the right moment, and results in some realistic, gritty deaths. The opening is as good as anything in the Carpenter film.

Unfortunately, Assault on Precinct 13's excellence ended right there. It's not exactly a bad film--I enjoyed it more often than not, but it does have more than its share of flaws. In the end, my rating average out to a 7 out of 10. Recommendable, but with reservations.

The first problem is that director Jean-Francois Richet tries to do too much--too much backstory, too many characters, too many over-the-top characters, too many quick cuts, too much shaky hand-held camera work, too many "big action moves", too many explosions, too many settings, and it's too dark. That the film is often so quickly edited and dark makes it too often difficult to see what's going on in the action scenes. Carpenter's film succeeded by being very taut, economical, sober and logical in its directorial style. Richet tries to one-up the original by forgoing all of those qualities. By the second or third scene, I was fairly confused. Superfluous characters were popping in and out, people were mumbling dialogue, and there was a whole complex backstory being hinted at and not spelled out very well.

The brutal shooting near the beginning of the original film, which sets off the whole sequence of events, was dropped--that thread was completely removed from the film. It was lamentable in that this new Assault loses much of the simple, sensible drive the thread provided, and it was surely a decision based on political correctness. Likewise, Bishop is not allowed to be a clear-cut bad guy here. That saps some of the effectiveness out of his cooperation. In this film, he might be mostly tough talk. The other criminals in the film are either left largely unexplained or guilty of only petty or consensual crimes. I find this kind of political correctness in films reprehensible, although I realize it's primarily a studio decision.

On the positive side, the villains here were cleverly conceived, and their nature makes them much more menacing physically. On the negative side, however, Richet lost the Night of the Living Dead (1968) zombie-like nature of the marauders, which saps suspense from the attacks. The logistics of the defense of the police station and details of their dilemma are not very clearly scripted or staged, either, which doesn't help. Another flaw is that some intruders seem to inexplicably hesitate. Another positive, though, is that Richet's film brings back a few small details, such as the capture of the criminal at the beginning of the film, and a substance addiction in one of the heroes leading to a character transformation, found in Rio Bravo (1959), the film that in conjunction with Night of the Living Dead, was the main inspiration for Carpenter's original film.

Also on the positive side, this Assault has a skilled (and much more well known) cast. Even though Richter occasionally directed them to be a bit too over-the-top, the performances hit many very interesting notes. And a few of the additions to the original film, such as a Mexican standoff and a couple later scenes outside the police station were excellent. The increased firepower here may also be to some viewer's liking.

A viewer less fond of the original, or even unfamiliar with the original, may like Assault better than I did. I may have even liked it better if the original were not so fresh in my memory (I just watched it again it recently--a review is forthcoming). There are enough redeeming aspects for action fans to make it worth at least a rental or a viewing on cable, but approach the film with lowered expectations.