On a snowy New Year's Eve in Detroit, Sergeant Jake Roenick (Hawke) is on duty with his saucy secretary (de Matteo) and an old-timer (Dennehy) for one last night at the soon-to-close Precinct 13. Then the storm strands Jake's court-ordered shrink (Bello) with them, as well as four dangerous prisoners--a notorious mob boss (Fishburne) and three low-lifes (Leguizamo, Atkins and Hinds). When the station is besieged by commandos, the cops and the criminals need to work together if there's any hope of getting out alive.

French director Richet uses handheld camera work and bold editing to keep the tension high right from the start, filling in the characters' back stories through dialog and scenes that provide insight into their personalities. As a result, when the plot starts churning through the requisite twists and turns, we are able to ride along with this odd group of people, actually caring what happens to them. To a degree.

Performances are strong from the actors who get something to do on screen, namely Hawke, Fishburne and de Matteo. The others provide bits of colour around the edges, while Byrne gets the thankless role as the shady cop who just wants to see Fishburne's slick, calm-in-the-storm baddie disappear forever. All of the actors clearly love the naturalistic dialog and the constant banter between characters. And this spark of individuality helps us forgive the extremely doubtful plot.

Because when you stop to think about it, there's nothing terribly plausible about this relentless storyline, which hinges on a series of conveniences and contrivances. But neither Richet's direction nor DeMonaco's script pauses long enough for us to dwell on the laughable plot holes, and the out-of-control situation develops into something engaging and very tense. And there's also a nice play on the 'honour among thieves' theme as we discover just a bit of dishonour among the cops.