7.7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Inside a soon-to-be-closed L.A. police station, a group of police officers and convicts must join forces to defend themselves against a gang of thugs.
Starring: Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, Laurie Zimmer, Martin West, Tony BurtonThriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.34:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
John Carpenter seems to be one of those directors who is reassessed with a fair degree of regularity. Yesterday’s misfire soon becomes tomorrow’s masterpiece, only to be relegated to middling status when some new “expert” critic comes along. But Assault on Precinct 13 is unusual in how quickly the initial reassessment came. When the film premiered in the United States in 1976 it received at best mixed reviews, and many found the film overly violent and trite. As so often seems to be the case, European critics and audiences warmed much more significantly to the film, and when Assault on Precinct 13 started playing the festival circuit in 1977, suddenly there was a new “consensus” that the film marked a storytelling high point for Carpenter. The intervening years have seen a rather radical backpedaling by at least some who initially dismissed the film, and Assault on Precinct 13 is now generally agreed to be one of the most viscerally gut wrenching films in Carpenter’s long and sometimes odd career. Carpenter has sometimes been accused of being intentionally obtuse and for indulging in hammy histrionics (especially in his horror outings), but Assault on Precinct 13 is a lean, mean and spare film that sets up its premise quickly and clearly, and then moves its characters about on a rather complex but always easily understandable chessboard of simultaneously unfolding events. The film has a sort of quasi-documentary feel to it, and if some viewers found the overt violence of a street gang on steroids wreaking havoc on an isolated neighborhood police station, intervening events for better or worse have shown that the basic setup of the film is not so farfetched after all.
Shout! Factory has confirmed that Assault on Precinct 13 was sourced from the same AVC encoded 1080p high definition master (in 2.34:1) utilized for the Image Blu-ray, which my colleague Dustin Somner reviewed here (I've included a couple of screenshots taken from around the same frames that Dustin included in his review so that "screenshot perusers" can do some comparison shopping. I tend to generally agree with Dustin's assessment of the image, which I, too, would rate as surprisingly solid given the low budget (and often low light) roots of the film. There is persistent crush, especially in the opening sequence and, later, when the electricity has been cut to the precinct. No egregious DNR seems to have been applied, as there is a very fine but natural looking layer of grain which actually spikes considerably in the darker sections. There are a couple of noticeable anomalies, including some fairly abrupt changes in contrast (see screenshot 16 for a good example).
The film's original sound mix is delivered via a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono Mix (offered in 2.0), and a well done surround mix is presented via DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. The 5.1 mix smartly keeps surround activity to a minimum, not overdoing things to the point where things sound artificial. A lot of the surround activity is relegated to Carpenter's synthesizer drenched score. There are occasional foley effects ported into discrete channels, including some of the gunfire. Dialogue consistently remains front and center. Fidelity is excellent in both of these tracks, as is dynamic range.
Previously Released Supplements:
Assault on Precinct 13 was faulted for being ludicrously improbable when it was first released, but the intervening years have shown that what were once euphemistically called juvenile delinquents have become completely brazen in their response to law enforcement. Admittedly the film is hardly a paradigm of realism, but it still has a grittily visceral ambience that is hard not to feel directly in the gut. This new release retains the same nice looking video and sounding audio of the Image release, and includes a few new supplements that fans will certainly enjoy. Recommended.
Restored Collector's Edition
1976
Collector's Edition
1976
4K Restoration
1976
4K Restoration
1976
DVD Packaging
1996
2011
1990
Limited Editon
1981
Unrated
2005
2001
2017
2013
Limited Edition to 3000
1973
Collector's Edition
2011
1992
1988
1974
2018
Standard Edition
1979
2020
2014
2016
2019
2014