THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (Rated PG-13)

There won’t be any point to dredging up the Yul Brynner version of “The Magnificent Seven” for comparison with Denzel Washington’s take on the lead character. First of all, their character names have been changed, maybe to protect the innocent or the guilty. Who knows?

Teamed up again with Washington, director Antoine Fuqua, as reported in the press notes, said he was excited about making a Western because as the result of what is happening in the world today you “need a special group of people to come together to fight tyranny.”

“The Magnificent Seven” is the story of seven outlaws, gunslingers, gamblers and bounty hunters who band together to fight tyranny that has gripped the small town of Rose Creek.

The truly evil Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), the proverbial mustache-twirling villain, owns the nearby gold mine where every able-bodied man in Rose Creek seems to be an indentured servant to toil in dangerous conditions, with little remuneration to show for hard work.

Not satisfied with stealing the property of the God-fearing townsfolk, Bogue burns their church to the ground and then guns down one good man in cold blood who had the temerity to ask why he couldn’t leave everyone in peace.

The man’s widow, Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett), turns out to be the gutsy savior of the town by taking up a collection so she can hire a crew to fight back and reclaim their lives and stolen property.

The right man to put it together is Washington’s Sam Chisholm, dressed in all-black and riding a dark horse, who announces himself as the duly sworn warrant officer from Wichita, Kansas and a licensed peace officer in Arkansas, the Indian Territory and a bunch of other states.

His right-hand sidekick is Chris Pratt’s Josh Faraday, a card-shark gambler with a quick draw. He loves magic tricks involving cards, whiskey and women, and not necessarily in that order. He’s also got a good sense of humor (something that comes easy to Pratt).

All seven members recruited to save the town are distinct characters and personalities. This includes Ethan Hawke’s Confederate sharpshooter Goodnight Robicheaux, a tortured soul wandering the West ever since the end of the Civil War.

Byung-hun Lee’s expert knife thrower Billy Rocks is not only Goodnight’s right-hand associate but an invaluable fighter. Vincent D’Onofrio is even more interesting as the resourceful mountain man Jack Horne, who apparently hasn’t spent much time with the civilized world.

An outlaw on the run from bounty hunters, Mexican gunman Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is given a second chance by Washington if he’ll do right by the town.

The last one recruited is the American Indian warrior Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier), a fierce one-man army who gives the rest of the crew a second chance only after Chisholm wisely shows respect for Comanche customs.

So there you have it. Seven very disparate men with different fighting skills show up in Rose Creek and teach the somewhat reluctant townsfolk how to prepare for an ultimate battle against Bogue’s army.

The first part of the battle is easy when the Seven dispatch a couple of dozen of Bogue’s local enforcers. But Chisholm knows that reinforcements in ever larger numbers are coming soon from Sacramento.

“The Magnificent Seven” does not disappoint in the action department. It’s like the Battle of the Alamo except there’s a better result but not without a lot of bloodshed. Fans of Westerns should find this remake a satisfying addition to the canon of the genre.

TV CORNER – 'LETHAL WEAPON' ON FOX

Welcome to the “TV Corner,” a new feature for this regular column. The idea is to take note primarily of new programming on network and cable television, without supplanting movie reviews.

On occasion a full column may be devoted to television, often because a new film was not readily available for review. Aside from previews, this space will look at new shows that have debuted, since we can’t cover the plethora of new shows that all start in the same month.

An intriguing new series of the FOX network is “Lethal Weapon,” which should come as no surprise to any fan of popular culture that it is based on the iconic film series starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover.

The most interesting character would Clayne Crawford in the role of Gibson’s unhinged detective Martin Riggs, while Damon Wayans holds up his end as Glover’s Roger Murtaugh, the sensible one without a death wish.

The first episode of “Lethal Weapon” establishes the tragic backstory for Riggs ending up in Los Angeles after serving in Texas law enforcement. It’s a sad tale that involves a horrific traffic accident, but explains Riggs’ melancholy, suicidal nature.

Some may question the need for the series, but the two main characters of Riggs and Murtaugh, truly polar opposites when paired up at LAPD, show great potential for developing an enjoyable wise-cracking buddy cop team.

“Lethal Weapon” is definitely worth a look or two because it has some stunning action (a cop chase in the middle of a Grand Prix) and plenty of good humor.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.