Review of Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) by Christian L — 01 Sep 2010

This barely adequate remake of John Carpenter's seminal action thriller apes its predecessor for the most part but bizarrely replaces the original's faceless crew of junkies, weirdos and anarchists with an army of heavily-armed Keystone Kops whose ineptitude borders on the hilarious.

Its lamentable attempts to mimic the spirited characters of the original are further ruined by some lazy dialogue and editing (repeated shots of actors staring glumly through windows) while many shots lacked continuity (the final scene where the protagonists stalk each other in a primeval forest seconds after a shoot-out in a city street left me especially bewildered).

With such a great cast and pedigree, I expected something a lot cooler than this.