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SUMMARY:
Detective Jack Mosely (Bruce Willis) is a shambling wreck of a
man, ravaged by alcohol, age and too many years on the job. At
his lowest ebb, he is given a simple task...transport
fast-talking felon Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) 16 blocks to the
courthouse to testify as an eyewitness in an important trial.
But there is a host of people between the courthouse and Jack’s
precinct who don’t want to see him get there.
STEVE SAYS:
Yet another Bruce Willis action flick is kind of a ho-hum affair
at our house. But the selection of new movies over the past
couple of weeks has been rather thin. We flipped a coin to
decide between this and the well-reviewed DAVE CHAPPELLE’S BLOCK
PARTY. Bruce won and off we went without much enthusiasm for the
hunt.
16 BLOCKS turned out to be a competently made, taut suspense
thriller for which the aging action hero was extremely well
cast. Also, it was nice to see old pro Richard Donner back in
the director’s chair after a three-year absence. If you want a
decent evening’s entertainment, 16 BLOCKS will fill the bill.
Just don’t expect to be blown away or to see something that is
entirely unpredictable. There are several points in this film
where you will think you know what the next scene will be and
you will be right.
Originality is not the word of the day for Richard Wenk’s
derivative script. But Bruce Willis is a better actor that most
people give him credit for (see PULP FICTION) and Mos Def
manages to make an obnoxious character rather charming. They
make an engaging team in the same way Robert DiNiro and Charles
Grodin did in MIDNIGHT RUN. When I said “derivative,” I meant
it. Take the drunken cop on the verge of total meltdown (Mel
Gibson in the first LETHAL WEAPON), add a pinch of the
wise-assed street savvy bad guy who’s not really bad (Eddie
Murphy in 48 HOURS), stir well, let simmer and you have 16
BLOCKS. All that having been said, it could have been a lot
worse...like, say, Bruce Willis’ last three movies.
There was a little inside joke in naming Mos Def’s character
“Eddie Bunker.” One of the themes of this story has to do with
whether or not a criminal can be redeemed. The late Eddie Bunker
was a small-time crook, an alumnus of San Quentin and Folsom
Prisons who morphed into a respected author (NO BEAST SO FIERCE,
THE ANIMAL FACTORY), screenwriter (STRAIGHT TIME, RUNAWAY TRAIN)
and actor (RESEVOIR DOGS, THE LONGEST YARD).
David Morse is such a great bad guy, he’s very much in danger of
being typed. He is so good as the steely-eyed Lieutenant Frank
Nugent that you forget Morse as the curly-haired,
wet-behind-the-ears aw shucks Dr. Jack “Boomer” Morrison on TV’s
ST. ELSEWHERE. He’s had a great career and the hits appear to
just keep coming for him.
16 BLOCKS is a testosterone-fest from start to finish. Indeed,
there are so few women in it at all that when one appears on the
screen, it’s sort of refreshing.
16 BLOCKS isn’t worth the investment of a baby sitter, dinner,
parking, sitting through a half hour of commercials and
trailers, dealing with the talkers behind you and everything
else that accompanies going to the movies these days. It’s one
of those movies that is best enjoyed on DVD, with your feet up
on the coffee table and a giant bowl of microwave popcorn
nearby. If you’ve only paid three dollars to rent it, you won’t
feel swindled. Otherwise, 16 BLOCKS isn’t worth 16 bucks.
* * * *
Patty says:
Call me grumpy (I’ve been called worse) but I’ve lost my sense
of humor about cops and vice presidents who mix alcohol and
firearms. Yes, Jack Mosely redeems himself and we end up rooting
for him as the good guy, but his redemption, like the lung
cancer patient’s deathbed promise to cut back on his smoking is
too little, too late for me to invest much energy cheering for
him.
That’s not to say that Bruce Willis didn’t give us an
outstanding performance. He plays the burned out, drunken cop
with the same intensity that he invested in his dead child
psychiatrist role in the SIXTH SENSE. Willis can mug for the
camera, but he also can act. He was consistently upstaged,
however, by his 16 BLOCKS sidekick, Mos Def. Def’s character
acting softened the edge of this story that would otherwise be
too grim to be palatable. Def deftly provided some comic relief
to distract us from the fox hunt. You can root for the fox, but
in the long run it’s the guys with the guns who draw the
“sporting man’s” bet.
16 BLOCKS was short on realism and long on predictability, but
it was entertaining. I stayed just far enough ahead of the
various revelations in the storyline to be a little bored with
the action but there is a little something for everyone in 16
BLOCKS, except for a lascivious sex scene.
Anyone who has ever driven in Manhattan will get a kick out of
the bus hijack scene. Like you could drive a Mini Cooper at 40
miles an hour through that bumper to bumper traffic, much less a
city bus. Even if you believed that a bourbon-pickled cop would
have the presence of mind to avoid capture with half of the city
trying to take him out...well, it all just seemed a little
surreal.
I agree with Steve on this one. It’s a great film to watch while
you wait to cycle through another load of laundry. See it in the
comfort of your bunny slippers.
* * * *
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