Conventional movie wisdom says that basically two types of movies are released in January. First you have your potential Oscar winners. These usually saw a limited release at the end of the year and are often released to wider audiences in January. On the flip side, are potential Razzie award winners. I was expecting Assault on Precinct 13 to fall into that second category, but it exceeded my expectations. Granted, those expectations weren’t very high to begin with but it ended up being better than I thought.

Precinct 13 is about to shut its doors. Pill-popping, booze-swilling, guilt-ridden Sergeant Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke), sexy police secretary Iris (Drea DeMateo) and ready-to-retire officer Jasper (Brian Dennehy) are the skeleton crew manning the precinct during a snowstorm on New Year’s Eve. As fate would have it, the weather forces a bus transferring several prisoners to jail to stop at the precinct for the night. Included with the group of petty criminals (John Legquizamo, Ja Rule and Aisha Hinds) is gangster Marion Bishop (a very menacing Laurence Fishburne). Bishop killed an undercover cop. Initially, when the bad guys surround the quasi-deserted station, everyone thinks its Bishop’s men trying to break him out. Instead, it’s a legion of bad cops, led by Gabriel Bryne, who need to silence Bishop before he outs them in court (this isn’t a spoiler because you can get as much from the previews).

In Training Day, Ethan Hawke confronts his demons by working with the corrupt Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington). In Assault on Precinct 13, he’s plays a cop who confronts his demons by working with an unrepentant gangster (Laurence Fishburne) (I guess next he’ll play a cop who confronts his demons by working with a psychopathic Samuel L. Jackson). First in Training Day and now in Assault, Hawke’s performance is overshadowed by the performance of his co-star, in this case, Fishburne. Cool and threatening, Fishburne oozes criminal charisma.

Assault on Precinct 13 is a remake of the 1975 John Carpenter film. I haven’t seen the original but from what I’ve heard, this version is a radical remake with much of the original (including several major characters) having been changed or completely eliminated.

There are several plot holes and I knew who the traitor was long before it was revealed. But director, Jean-François Richet keeps the plot moving and the stakes escalate enough to keep the audience engaged.