Trailer for Assault on Precinct 13

I’m a huge John Carpenter fan, and when I first heard this was being remade (I think we should have a current Hollywood remake counter!) I was appauled and very scared for the original. That movie, and many other Carpenter classics, followed the pattern of a group of people thrown together in an amazing situation, and sometimes this has has been focused on one location, as in Prince of Darkness.

So when I saw the trailer popup I was excited to view it and it was with reluctance that I realised I liked it. It looked good. Firstly apologies for not posting the link, I can’t find it! I had it last week and viewed it, now it’s lost. Please feel free to post it if you find it.

The movie stars such names as Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, John Leguizamo, Gabriel Byrne and Brian Dennehy. That was my first surprise. I had no idea that Byrne and Fishburne were cast as baddies, and for me that ramps up the excitement right there. They both have amazing screen presence, and Byrne is another actor that effortlessly fits into a role, and fits in there with added gusto and, in the case of the baddies, extra menace. Dennehy is an actor I enjoy watching as well, and to an extent Hawke, which I think is a good outing for him and follows the vein of his character from the excellent Training Day.

The trailer is packed with tension, and a fair share of (not overly so) stylised action with some pretty cool visuals. I think this looks really, really promising. I got a big feeling of The Negotiator from this, and it didn’t really hit me until I saw the screenwriter’s name, James DeMonaco, he wrote that too by the way. I liked The Negotiator, made even better by the way cool cast.

Back to this movie then. It looks tense, with an obvious thread of aggression between the characters of Fishburne and Hawke who are Criminal and Policeman respectively. I am now changing from worried about the treatment of this classic to looking forward to it. Anyone found the link? I’d like to see it again.