The 1976 John Carpenter original has been reworked enough to give the urban thriller a distinct flavor of its own, and stars (the Carpenter version didn't have any) Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne provide enough gravitas to keep things involving even as some of the supporting characters fight a losing battle with caricature. Distributed by Focus Features genre division, Rogue Pictures, the film should, however, nab some significant business in its DVD stakeout. To be fair, Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13," was itself a remake, inspired by the 1959 Howard Hawks film "Rio Bravo," starring John Wayne and Dean Martin, which exchanged a Wild West town jail for a soon-to-be-shuttered Los Angeles police station that comes under siege by gang members.

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