“John Carpenter's second feature... (is) on one level... an exploitation thriller, a violent action film about the irrational attack on a lonely Los Angeles police station by an inter-racial gang of mindless thugs. The only people in a position to defend the building against the mob's fury are Ethan Bishop, a black cop new to the job; Leigh, a secretary at the station; and Wilson, a killer on his way to Death Row.
“From this simple material, Carpenter has fashioned a superbly physical film with copious cinematic references (especially to Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo, not only in the idea of the film - goodies defend law-office/jail against baddies - but also in the characters of the heroes and, especially, the heroine). As Tom Milne has pointed out, the film manages to be both hilariously funny and incredibly suspenseful at the same time, though some may be turned off by moments of violence, especially the death near the beginning of a little girl whose only sin is that she complains about being given the wrong flavour of ice cream. Writing in the London Film Festival programme, Ken Wlaschin noted: ‘(The film) is one of the most powerful and exciting crime thrillers from a new director in a long time. It grabs hold of the audience and simply doesn't let go as it builds to a crescendo of irrational violence that reflects only too well our fears of unmotivated attack. It is a frightening look at the crumbling of rational ideas of law and order under an irresistible attack by forces of irrationality and death.'
“Interestingly enough, the above comments might equally well have been made about George Miller's Mad Max, another excellent thriller made by a movie buff who knows how to involve and manipulate his audience through camera movement and editing. Carpenter is, however, the almost complete auteur; not only did he write and direct Assault, but he also wrote the driving music score and edited the film (under the pseudonym ‘John T. Chance,' the name of the John Wayne character in Rio Bravo).”