An underrated action thriller movie is on TV tonight

Featuring in its cast one of Ireland's most famous actors, the film is currently unavailable to rent or stream.

The reimagining centres around a Detroit cop named Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke, The Black Phone) who is haunted by a failed sting operation in his past which left two undercover officers dead. Now clinging to his unambitious assignment as a desk sergeant at a soon-to-be decommissioned precinct, he and his small crew of colleagues maintain a skeleton shift on New Year's Eve.

When a prison bus carrying criminals, including the notorious Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne, The Matrix), is rerouted to Roenick's precinct due to a snowstorm, what was meant to be a quiet night turns deadly. A group of attackers (led by Gabriel Byrne, The Usual Suspects), determined to eliminate Bishop for a secret he knows, attempt to besiege the building.

As such, Roenick and Bishop are forced to form an uneasy alliance to protect the precinct and survive.

With its more complicated story and longer runtime, this remake of the John Carpenter-directed original lacks the mean-and-lean punch of the '70s classic.

That said, you have to praise writer James DeMonaco (The Purge franchise) and director Jean-Francois Richet (Blood Father, Plane) for putting their own spin on the material as opposed to just doing a rehash.

In fact, the remake's taut action set-pieces, its atmospheric wintry setting, and its great cast - also including Brian Dennehy, Drea de Matteo, John Leguizamo, Kim Coates and Maria Bello - make it worth seeking out.

The 2005 version of Assault on Precinct 13 is airing on the channel Legend at 9pm. The movie is currently unavailable to rent or stream in Ireland, so now is the time to check it out.

Here are the other movies on TV tonight:

No Hard Feelings - Film4 - 9pm

Jennifer Lawrence stars in this raunchy 2023 comedy.

Eddie the Eagle - Sky Comedy - 9pm

Hugh Jackman and Taron Egerton headline this well-liked biographical sports comedy-drama about skiing.

Faster - Legend Xtra - 9pm

Dwayne Johnson is an ex-con on a mysterious vengeance quest in this action thriller that is one of the star's best films.

The History Boys - BBC Two - 11pm

Based on Alan Bennett’s hit play, this comedy-drama is set at a British grammar school in the ’80s.

Lucky Number Slevin - Legend Xtra - 11pm

A star-studded and very watchable crime thriller about a case of mistaken identity that puts a man named Slevin (Josh Hartnett) in the middle of a war between two rival New York crime lords.

The Black Phone - Film4 - 11.05pm

This excellent 2021 supernatural thriller is about a young boy (Mason Thames) abducted and held captive by a serial killer (Ethan Hawke, again).

We just recently wrote about its great sequel, Black Phone 2, which is now available to stream at home.

Upgrade - Legend - 11.15pm

A man paralysed after an attack that killed his wife tries to get revenge, with the help of an experimental computer chip implant that allows him to control his body.

A mix of Black Mirror, John Wick and Venom, Upgrade is one of our favourite action and sci-fi films of the 21st century.

Harriet - BBC One - 11.45pm

Cynthia Erivo was Oscar-nominated for playing Harriet Tubman in this biopic.