The opening scene reminded me of Narc, with the way the scene
was shot, on a handheld, with NYPD Blues-like motion, shootout and
chase. However, this film lacked the sophistication nor intriguing
storyline that Narc offered.
Ethan Hawke plays a cop suffering from the guilt of a failed
undercover mission which saw 2 of his colleagues die. Lawrence
Fishburne, on the other hand, plays a cop-killer mafiaso type, who
initially I thought was playing Morpheus all over again, with his
pseudo-philosophy sounding character.
The premise of the movie is simple enough, nothing more than your
usual actioner. A cop-killer is caught and while being transported
with other baddies to a secure jailhouse, the severe new year's eve
blizzard brings them to Detriot's Precinct 13 for a temporal
lockup. Corrupt cops who want the cop-killer dead for their own
selfish reasons, plan and try to storm Precinct 13, kill everyone,
and put the blame on thugs.
Since Precinct 13 is on the verge of a closure for good, the
limited manpower (count: 3 cops and 1 psychologist) have to
cooperate with the jailbirds (count: 4), and vice versa, to make it
out alive against a group of corrupt cops (count: 33 or so) with
high tech weaponry (night vision goggle, sniper rifles, assault
rifles etc). Sort of like Panic Room, where you're held up in a
confined space, while the villains try and infiltrate.
Character building is practical zero - we have one dimensional
characters, and whatever limited characters we know of, just adds
to the body count. Faceless, dialogue-less characters also add to
death in creative ways. But hey, it's a no-brainer action movie, so
keep your expectations down (sorry, it's Oscar season)
The only theme being explored here, if at all, is the theme of
responsibility. Ethan Hawke has and understands his responsibility
as Precinct team leader to keep his teammates, and those under his
custody, alive, even if it means sleeping with the enemy,
figuratively. While on the flip side, we have a corrupt cop (led by
Gabriel Byrne) wanting to keep his end of the bargain in
maintaining and protecting his corrupt team from prosecution, if
Fishburne makes it to the courthouse alive.
Standard action flick with a minor twist at the end to facilitate
the plot.
