Featured Actress: Maria Bello - The story has been updated, but all the excitement and action have been preserved in this 2005 remake of John Carpenter's 1976 action/thriller. Carpenter wrote and directed the earlier version, and the new version follows his plot closely.
It's New Year's Eve in the middle of a blinding snowstorm. A police sergeant, now in uniform after being involved in a tragic incident while under cover, is presiding over the closing of a police station. After midnight, the station is closed, and only a secretary, a uniformed cop, and the sergeant remain.
A bus transporting prisoners is forced to stop at the precinct because of the storm. The prisoners are placed in holding cells until the storm subsides. Among them is Bishop, a major criminal and cop killer who runs a gang of thugs.
When the precinct suddenly comes under attack from heavily armed men in ski masks, the assumption (which is wrong) is that its Bishop's men trying to free him. Phone lines have been cut, and radio communications jammed. The cops and prison guards are forced to defend the precinct, because they know the invaders won't leave anyone alive.
Lots of excitement and a few twists make this a riveting movie that never gets boring.