Assault on Precinct 13

John Carpenter is one of my favorite directors Top 5 at least. I had never seen "Assault On Precinct 13" before but was pleased to find this early Carpenter offering featured some of his trademark wide shots and accompanying film score. The story is nothing groundbreaking but Carpenter does a nice job of turning up the tension and suspense as the street gang descends upon the police station. For all of the violence that takes place there is little gore other than some gang members cutting themselves and a guy getting his arm snapped. The most appealing characters in the movie are Wilson and Leigh. They are the heroes of the film but they were mostly entertaining to me because of their ham-handed tough-guy/gal personas. The story itself is very basic and the characters are just there to pull the triggers on the real stars of the show the guns. That's fine with me as this seems like a shoot 'em up Western most of the time. I think the main problem here though is that the characters really have zero personalities and they're in a confined space with no real conflict between them.

"Look at that, two cops wishing me luck. I'm doomed." Assault on Precinct is still such a blast to watch. This was only my second viewing of it but damn it is still so entertaining. You have great action, two good leads in Austin Stoker and Darwin Joston, another iconic Carpenter soundtrack that will stay in your head for days, lots of tension and it is a great horror movie hidden in a action flick. I read somewhere Carpenter's inspiration for this one was Rio Bravo and Night of the Living Dead. The Night of the Living Dead one I for sure can see but I have never seen Rio Bravo before so I can't comment on that. It might be time for me to finally watch Rio Bravo and see what Carpenter took from the Howard Hawk movie. Anyway if you, by any chance, haven't seen Assault on Precinct 13 yet, what are you waiting for? Ps. Still can't believe Carpenter got away shooting that little girl.