Don’t let the appearance by Ja Rule fool you; Assault on Precinct 13 is a clever film with great acting and a superb plot.

The movie, released on DVD May 10, engulfs the familiar good guy vs. bad guy barricade which dominated 99 percent of films. The role of the good guy and bad guy?and just who is the good and bad guys?is fuzzy.

Ethan Hawke stars as a cop who, months earlier, botched a sting operation that cost his fellow comrades their lives. Wounded physically and emotionally, he accepted a desk job at Precinct 13, which is about to close.

The day before the precinct is to be closed down, a bus, loaded with prisoners, including the vicious and ruthless Bishop (Laurence Fishburne), has to make an emergency stop at the precinct since it can’t continue on its way in the snow.

With the prisoners locked up, the real bad guys emerge outside the jail. At first, it appears they are Bishop’s men; but it soon becomes obvious that could not be farther from the truth. Now the police inside must team up with the prisoners to battle the real bad guys on the outside.

The film also stars Drea de Matteo (Joey) and Gabriel Byrne.

The greatest thing about the film is the twists throughout the movie. It has a predictable finish and is a little on the anticlimactic side, but just when you think you figured everything out, something unexpected happens that you may have thought of, but ruled out.

Hawke is excellent portraying a rundown cop ready to prove himself again, and Fishburne steals every scene he is in. Ja Rule is annoying, but he’s barely in it.

Bonus material includes: featurettes, a behind the scenes feature (surprising how small the set is), commentary, and deleted scenes.

4*/5*






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