This analysis/ review contains *SPOILERS*
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) (Left), Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) (Right)
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976, written and directed by John Carpenter, 91 mins
3/5
John Carpenter's second feature film is a slow paced, action genre film, beginning his trend as a genre auteur film maker. Carpenter not only wrote and directed Assault (1976), but he composed the music, with it's slow bass repetitive synthesizer beats that would become his signature musical score style with notable themes in Halloween (1978) and The Thing (1982).
Classic to Carpenter's genre style and the slower pacing of 1970s Hollywood film, Assault (1976) builds slowly, establishing characters, setting the scene. The opening scene is notably graphic, setting the stage of violence that is withheld for much of the rest of the first act of the film. Carpenter's film school directing style establishes many "Checkhov's gun"'s in the early stages of the film, using mainly visuals and sparse dialogue to convey who the characters are, and where and what they are doing.
The performances are pretty good, considering the relatively shallow character details they have to work with. Carpenter's films are particularly good action films, because they allow deeper performances and authentic emotion to their "action heroes" despite at times being a little wooden, they are not mere card board cut outs of "criminals" or "cops". Assault (1976) devises some ambiguity between the police in the station and the criminals in the station pitted against the rogue criminals outside. They are united by their situation, under siege. Also, notably Carpenter wrote "criminals" that were a diverse anarchist group, with racial diversity, identifying a fictional "new breed" of criminal group.
Carpenter is fan of subverting filmic and genre expectations. In the first act he breaks a seminal rule in film, "don't kill children". The little girl is abruptly shot with no real fan fare and the father at first in shock then goes on a rampage to kill the attackers, an aspect of the vigilante/ revenge action genre.
Carpenter's films are usually devoid of any overt sexual relationships, instead they are inferred and sublimated in favour of bright action sequences, this can be seen in Assault (1976) between Leigh (Laurie Zimmer) and Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston) as the Bonnie-and-Clyde-esque relationship develops during the siege, the attraction from the pretty police secretary to the death row philosophical criminal. Their relationship, more akin to allegiance than any sexual attraction is only consummated by a prolonged look between the pair at the end of the film, where they realise both the connection they had made, beyond perceived expectations, and also realising they must both return to "normality" and their former designated rolls of "woman" and "criminal".
Carpenter also favours atypical Hollywood characters especially strong women, black male heroes and white criminals. Wells (Tony Burton) the stereotypical "black criminal" is both a hero and sacrificial character as he attempts to escape in a car to get help.
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005), Jean-Francois Richet, 109 mins
2.5/5
This film attempts to be edgy and action packed fails to deliver any deep or interesting characters. The simplistic plot originally written by Carpenter is unnecessarily transformed by superfluous details and too many messages. The performances are good, relative to the material they had to work with. The action is muddled as the stakes aren't very high, for the thinly developed characters and the too many twists and turns become more confusing rather than intelligible. Full of expositional dialogue it is not a particularly good genre piece trying too hard to do too many things, and failing on most counts. It is unnecessarily long and melodramatic in scope.
Remaking Precinct 13 - Comparison between 1976 and 2005 version
The character of the "police hero" Bishop (in 1976 version) and Jake Roenick (in the 2005 version) played by Ethan Hawk is remade from the relatively subversive middle aged black cop into the homogeneised conflicted young white cop. However, interestingly Hawk's character is introduced to the audience as a violent drug dealer, then revealed to be in fact an undercover cop. His character is convoluted with much time spent establishing him with violent and sexual tendencies, guilt ridden over the undercover job gone bad where his female undercover agent was killed and he was also shot. His session with the police psychiatrist Dr. Alex Sabien (played by Maria Bello) establishes that he might be addicted to the pain killers he initially started taking for his gunshot, his sexual attraction to her and also the possibility that he "doesn't feel like a cop" and is disillusioned. Alex even accuses Jake of "impotence" and that he is disillusioned about being a cop.
Luitenant Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker), Assault (1976)
Sgt. Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawk), Assault (2005)
Marion Bishop, Assault (2005)
Interestingly the "criminal" in the 2005 version is named Bishop, the name of the original black hero cop and at the same time paying homage to the original character, displacing his name onto the criminal character, perhaps relating to the allusion in the 1976 version that Bishop came from that criminal district and "walked myself out of here at 20", and his past living whether criminal or not is not divulged, only that he was sent as a small child to the police station by his father for using foul language in front of his mother. Marion Bishop (in the 2005 version) is also a pivot role as access to the police corruption and criminal underworld for the other characters trapped in the station serving as a remake of the character of Wilson, the moralistic criminal.
Dr. Alex Sabien (played by Maria Bello), Assault (2005)
Julie (Nancy Kyes), Assault (1976)
Leigh (Laurie Zimmer), Assault (1976)
Iris (Drea de Matteo), Assault (2005)
The 2005 remake diverges more into the modern action style of pointing out each criminals history with the walk past and crime history of each character in the police cells, homogenizing any potential moral ambiguity of these characters. In comparison the details of the past crimes of the criminals in the 1976 version are more alluded to or established through dialogue with the police, and delved into further throughout the film.
The relationship between Alex and Jake (2005 version) is established as both aggressive and full of sexual tension and their romance develops throughout the film, although it is never consummated due to her death.
Jake's apparent "impotence" is rejected in his altercation and subsequent murder of one of the one masked assailants in a trip outside early in the film. However this is undermined later in the film where Iris is screaming at him about what they should do and he says "I don't know".
Jake's character is much more "gung-ho" and he goes and visits the locked up prisoners stating "I'll do everything I can to protect you/ make sure you are safe". In comparison, Bishop's character in the 1976 film at least in the beginning is one of ignoring the prisoners during the initial confusion, walking past them and ignoring their questions, and then later he orders their release from the cells developing by the end of the film into a "buddy cop" style camaraderie and allie friendship by the end of the film. Stating it would be "an honour" to escort Wilson outside and forcing the other police officer to get his hands off him. They had developed a sense of mutual respect and trust over the films events, defying their obvious opposing roles of "lawman" and "criminal" that would usually have them pitted against each other. Bishop proves himself both smart and morally evolved and Wilson is not the sociopath that he might have appeared to have been. Early in the film a police officer on the prison bus asks Wilson "you're smart, you're not a sociopath" so what gives basically?
The violence in 1976 version has dated somewhat and appears almost cartoonish with bright red blotches of "blood" appearing and the lack of gunshot sounds (due to use of silencers), much discussed by the characters gives the film a strange hollow eeriness, as it mostly lacks the classic "action" film soundscape of large explosions. Also Carpenter's version often doesn't show the actual shots, except in particular cases for dramatic effect, such as the death of the little girl. Instead showing dead bodies, slowly revealed from the perspective of the other characters, such as Leigh's discovery of the dead Julie. In comparison, the 2005 version is highly violent and even more gun-toting than the original. With it's technologically advanced lazer scope weapons that glorify guns, and the scene of the "mexican standoff" between the criminals and police that remakes the much tighter exchange between the criminal Wells and Leigh which is impotent, despite her successful talking him down, his gun was in fact empty. The 2005 version remakes it in grander scale with the ridiculous over-the-top stand off between nearly all the characters holding guns at each other.
Assault (2005)
Iris Ferry (Drea de Matteo) remakes the character of Julie the secretary, but a more sexualized version of the hysterical woman. She is dressed in short skirts and tights, and overtly discusses sex with Lawrence Fishburne's character Bishop in one scene, where he describes perhaps the thematic intentions of the film, the notion of "thalanos and eros" death and love or as he says "sex and death are closely related", the overt shots the guns work as phallic subtext that isn't so "sub" in the scene. This represents an overall style of a more sexualized and violent film compared to the original. Dr. Alex Sabien (played by Maria Bello) remakes the character of Julie (Nancy Kyes) and is the stereotypical "hysterical woman".
The concept of "America" is lorded heavy handedly throughout the 2005 film, which is characteristic of American Hollywood action films, with overly symbolic shots of the American flag waving or the American Flag prominent behind Jake in some shots.
The remake (2005) is full of gratuity, sex, violence and unnecessary dialogue and exposition. All the key plot features and characters are there, but they are arbitrarily expanded with too many details, that rather than add depth add unnecessary confusion to the narrative.
The death of the Dr (Alex) comes as somewhat of a surprise around 3/4 of the way through the film, her character doesn't really evolve. She begins overtly aggressive towards Jake and sexualized dressed up for a New Years Eve Party after work, then quickly devolving into a hysterical woman, cringing on the floor, and cradled in Jake's arms, often deferring to him and asking or begging him to allow her to go on the escape attempt.
Anna (Aisha Hinds) is also a reworking of the character of Wells, as she is the one who goes out to the car to attempt to escape and gets shot from behind, by one of the "bad guys" hidden in the back seat. Her character exposes how each the multitude of characters become mere plot devices rather than actual characters, as she claims to know how to hot wire a car and that is the premise from which the escape plan springs. The other two criminals attempt to escape and meet predictable ends, making little impact due to lack of character development.
The interwoven theme of police corruption integrated into the 2005 version is none too subtly used to convey Jake the "hero"'s journey from self-doubt back to being a "cop" and hero and also to allude to the obvious point that Bishop makes "these men aren't cops they're criminals" which is unnecessary heavy handed exposition. The overt amount of violence, gunshots and explosions make for a desensitized experience and few if any deaths during the film have any impact whatsoever.
The 1976 version doesn't delve into the psychological motives of the "criminals" holding the precinct under siege which adds to the tension and overall ambiguity of the film, denying them any clear motivations. Instead the remake in 2005 is convoluted and clearly establishes Gabriel Burn's character from the beginning showing frequent dialogue scenes outside of the police station. Sgt. Jasper (Brian Dennehy) is unsurprisingly revealed to be a corrupt cop and betrays them once they manage to escape the station.
In an obvious piece, none the less satisfying, the "secretary" Iris uses what was a sexual demonstration of power earlier in the film in the scene with Bishop, to fight off and kill one of the men in the woods. In this way, Iris is a double of Leigh's character from the original as she is more aggressive and has strong survival instincts.
Throughout the film Jake and Bishop note their rival roles, switching back and forth between allies and overt animosity. Their temporary allegiance is referred to putting their "shit on pause", but the plot attempts to trick the audience multiple times into thinking this agreement is betrayed and there is a constant threat of their alliance dissolving and it is clear that once they have escaped they will return steadfastly to being enemies.
The 2005 version remakes the saving role between Bishop and Wilson with Jake and Bishop's character, with Jake saving him multiple times. The clear difference between Jake and Bishop's moral codes are explicitly stated in the film, where Jake establishes the clear cut idea that it's his "job" whereas Bishop expresses a code of self preservation.
The ending is transformed with Jake's character expressing some sympathy for Bishop's character by failing to tell the other police officers that Bishop is still out there, despite telling Bishop that they will catch up to him soon. The 2005 remake ends on a cliche note with Iris and Jake walking away arm in arm with a final shot of the sunshine.
Overall Carpenter's version gives you a tighter more developed ride, if somewhat simplistic and it subverts character and genre expectations particularly well, especially racial and gender elements. In comparison the 2005 version is overly complicated and confusing, with more action and explosions and guns, with less impact, and the characters are reverted to traditional archetypes of both race and gender.
This case study is just one example of how contemporary Hollywood films, are expressions of a cultural desensitisation to violence, and overt sexuality, but the subtext reverts to older more traditional gender roles, characterisations and narratives and is reliant too much on technology rather than good writing to carry the action.
It would seem that the 2005 version defies the old tradition that 'crime doesn't pay' and that the criminal is always punished at the end of the film, but this just disguises the true underlying meaning in the 2005 version, where Bishop states "I told ya. I'm not gonna change" and Jake replies "I will find you, no other cop, just me" and thus this scene demonstrates the return of the roles of the "criminal" and the "cop" completing Jake's journey, to 'redemption'. Whereas in comparison the original rejected that genre expectation instead continuing the respect and allegiance between the "cop" and the "criminal" defying these both societal and filmic roles.
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