Face-Off: The Purge vs. Assault on Precinct 13 2005

Writing this one, James DeMonaco had the benefit of working from a foundation John Carpenter had established decades earlier with the original ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1976). Carpenter himself based his script on the 1959 Western RIO BRAVO, which was set in the 1800s. This is a simple set-up that can work in any time period. DeMonaco moves it into then-modern day Detroit, adding the element of a New Year’s Eve blizzard and throwing in some extra twists and turns. Interestingly, Carpenters’ ASSAULT had the criminals attacking the police precinct because they had pursued an intended victim there – an idea DeMonaco would use for THE PURGE. Here the precinct is under siege because they have a notorious criminal kingpin locked up in a cell and the bad guys outside want to get to him. Not to rescue him, but to make sure he won’t be giving the names of his associates to the authorities.

Ethan Hawke’s character, police officer Jake Roenick, knows what it’s like to lose people he’s responsible for, as his partners were killed during an undercover drug bust gone bad earlier in the year. Since then, he has been working a desk job at the soon-to-close Precinct 13 and self-medicating. When the precinct comes under siege, Roenick steps up with a determination to do whatever it takes to keep the people inside alive. He’s a troubled person, but a noble one, the sort of hero we can root for as he struggles to beat the odds and survive this night while saving those around him.

The attack on Precinct 13 is led by Gabriel Byrne as Captain Marcus Duvall, a corrupt cop who is relentlessly determined to wipe out everyone in the precinct while taking a weary “it’s gotta be done” approach to the scenario. For him, it’s simple math: if the handful of people in the building are killed, he’s saving the dozens of corrupt cops who work under him, whose lives would be destroyed if their names were revealed in court. The scene where Duvall does that math is really the most Byrne is given to work with in the film, so even though Duvall was given some depth, he doesn’t make much of an impression.

Laurence Fishburne’s Marion Bishop has done some terrible things while carrying out his very successful criminal dealings, but it becomes an “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” situation as Bishop has to team up with Roenick to take on the corrupt cops trying to kill them. Also in the mix are Roenick’s psychiatrist, the precinct’s party girl secretary, a few other police officers (who may not all be trustworthy), and Bishop’s three fellow prisoners: a thief, a gangbanger, and a counterfeiter. I’m not blown away by any of these characters, but all of them are interesting or entertaining to some degree, the standout of the bunch being John Leguizamo as the amusing junkie Beck, who arms himself with a sword for one glorious moment.

The cops attacking the precinct have some major resources at their disposal, being armed with guns that have silencers and lazer scopes. They start out in coats and ski masks, have soon moved up to wearing tactical gear, and by the time the night is over they have a helicopter hovering over the place. They surround the building, picking off anyone who comes outside, sending silent bullets through the windows, and also manage to get inside for some face-to-face confrontations. The attackers aren’t a creepy bunch, they’re just armed and dangerous figures there to kill or be killed, and they do plenty of both.