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| Director
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Richard Donner
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| Starring
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Bruce Willis, Mos Def |
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| The plot of
16 Blocks |
An aging cop (Willis) is assigned the ordinary
task of escorting a fast-talking witness (Mos
Def) from police custody to a courthouse. However
there are forces at work trying to stop prevent
them from making it. |
16 Blocks
Movie Review |
Review by Gary
Goldstein:
Though it aims higher
than the average cop thriller, 16 Blocks rarely rises
above its far-fetched plot and wham-bang mayhem. Richard
Donner directed this grim tale of bad cops and worse
cops with slightly more economy and restraint than,
say, his Lethal Weapon installments, but in doing so
has sacrificed some of the more primal and cathartic
moments that make movies like this tick. Donner can
approach Richard Wenk's noir-light script however he
wants, but 16 Blocks is first and foremost an action
picture. And, like they say, if it looks like a duck
and walks like a duck—well, it ain't Shakespeare.
Credit lead Bruce Willis for trying to dig deep as grizzled,
alcoholic NYPD vet Jack Mosley, a "cop with a past"
who believes people can't change and that life's too
long. Like Paul Newman in The Verdict and, more recently,
John Travolta in A Love Song for Bobby Long, Willis
eschews every last ounce of leading man glamour to play
a boozy, tortured soul whose redemption will come from
an unlikely source. In this case, it's Eddie Bunker
(Mos Def), a motor-mouthed, petty crook Mosley's randomly
assigned to escort from lock-up to the courthouse—16
blocks away—where the criminal is set to testify
against a team of dirty cops, one of which includes
Mosley's ex-partner and longtime friend, Frank Nugent
(David Morse)..more..
Review By Brian Orndorf:
Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) is a small time felon
awaiting transportation to a grand jury to testify about
New York City's most crooked cops. Detective Jack Mosley
(Bruce Willis) is the alcoholic, overweight, bum-legged
cop assigned to take him 16 blocks to the courthouse.
As soon as it begins, their journey erupts into chaos,
with a small band of rogue officers (led by David Morse)
chasing them throughout the city, giving Jack and Eddie
little breathing room as they both try to do the right
thing for the first time in their lives.Three years
ago, I thought the dream was over. "Timeline"
was director Richard Donner's last picture, and it was
an uncharacteristic disaster. After building a career
with such classics as "Superman," "Lethal
Weapon," "Ladyhawke," and "The Omen,"
Donner put in a half-hearted effort with the medieval
adventure, in a production that felt doomed from the
start. Thank goodness the fear of Donner's exhausted
capabilities can now be laid to rest. His new thriller,
"16 Blocks" is a cozy, spry little humdinger,
returning the filmmaker to material that nurtures his
confidence, and offers a limited location he can get
creative with..More..
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