This film is exactly 4/7ths as good as 28 Days Later.

16 Blocks

Genres: Action / Crime / Drama

Release Date: March 3

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for violence, intense sequences of action, and some strong language.

Distributors: Warner Brothers

Director: Richard Donner

Writer: Richard Wenk

Cast: Bruce Willis, Mos Def, David Morse, Jenna Stern

            Every once in a while, Hollywood creates a taut, well-characterized, and genuinely thrilling B-movie. And, of course, nobody sees it, because there aren’t any helicopters or tanks. 16 Blocks came and went without much of a peep, but it’s one of the better action films released in quite some time, provided you don’t or can’t think too much. The script is inventive, and the film is highlighted by solid performances by Bruce Willis, Mos Def, and David Morse. This review will, however, need to take a short break in order to make sure that typing ‘solid performance’ and ‘Bruce Willis’ in the same sentence didn’t melt a server somewhere.

Still here? OK. Willis plays Jack Mosley, a drunk, tired, and over-the-hill detective. Perhaps his performance is so good because instead of acting, he's just sort of showing up hung-over after passing out in a blues bar. But for whatever reason, Willis nails it. At the end of an overnight shift, Detective Mosley is given a last-minute detail escorting a petty thief to a court date. The thief is played by Mos Def, who gives the character a nasal, high-pitched manic whine that sounds like Spike Lee arguing with a dentist’s drill. Shortly after leaving the station, however, Mosley discover that Def is on his way to testify against a crooked cop, and all hell breaks loose as half of the NYPD tries to take both of them down. Relayed mostly in real-time, the film follows Willis’ attempts to get his witness 16 blocks to the courthouse, where a grand jury and a messy, illogical climax await.

Richard Donner is not a director known for his inventiveness. For better or worse, he takes a script and shoots it, like you’re watching a play that changes angles every once in a while. In 16 Blocks, however, he adopts a more modern approach, filming the majority of the movie with handheld cameras, indicating that while Donner may not be the most original of filmmakers, he’s at least seen a few episodes of 24. That decision is a wise one, because it keeps things moving so fast we don’t have time to think about how nothing really makes any sense. If we did, we might ask why exactly a witness testifying against the NYPD would be escorted by the NYPD, or why New York looks so much like Toronto, and things would start to unravel rather quickly. The premise is interesting, but the script, and therefore the film, falls apart at the end. But if it didn’t, it wouldn’t really be an action movie, now would it?

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