DVD * Assault on Precinct 13 * action thriller

Ethan Hawke stars in this tense and involving update of John Carpenter's influential 1976 police action thriller, which was in turn based on the 1959 Howard Hawks Western "Rio Bravo." The director, Jean-François Richet, opens the film with a slam-bang drug deal gone wrong and then slows things down for some character development-a decision that feels truly retro. The bulk of the film takes place inside a police station that's being attacked by a bunch of crooked cops. The cast includes Laurence Fishburne, Maria Bello, Ja Rule, and Drea de Matteo, all of whom give strong, no-frills performances. There's a simplicity to Richet's staging of the assault that harks back to the gritty, muscular work of Don Siegel, the director of such films as "Dirty Harry" and "The Shootist."