16 Blocks: Movie, DVD, Blu-ray disc Review (2006)

8/24/2007 Posted by Admin

"16 Blocks"

(Originally published March 3, 2006)

The new Richard Donner movie, "16 Blocks," stars Bruce Willis as Jack Mosley, a washed-up, boozed-up, dried-up New York detective who is so down on himself and on life, he remarks early in the movie that life isn't too short, it's "too long."

Looking at Jack, for whom a bottle never is too far out of reach, there's no question that he means it. Not since the 1992 comedy "Death Becomes Her" has Willis played a character who looks quite as beaten up as this. Balding, sloppy and overweight, his lined face crisscrossed with gutters of exhaustion and disappointment, Willis' Jack looks as if death might not just become him, but undo him--and fast.

Not that he'd necessarily mind. The first time we see Jack, he's hunched over the wheel of a city bus, a bouquet of blood roses is slowly blooming on his shirt, and the cops outside are eager to take him down in a hail of bullets. How did he get here? It's complicated.

In flashback, the movie dissolves, with Donner and screenwriter Richard Wenk sewing together a simple premise composed of familiar parts: Jack is charged by a superior to take a small-time thug named Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) downtown to court, where Eddie is supposed to take the stand in an effort to give testimony that will implicate a hive of dirty cops.

Thing is, as this movie sees it, cops don't turn on cops, even if they've got the stink of crime all over them. Knowing this, Jack isn't exactly surprised when he's confronted by his colleagues--including his former partner, Frank (David Morse)--who believe that the best way to handle Eddie is just to kill him so they all can move on with their lives.

But Jack sees things differently--he rather likes Eddie. And there's that small part of Jack that hasn't been numbed by the booze that would like to believe that he's better than that. And so, when guns are drawn and shots are fired, "16 Blocks" becomes a chase movie in which Jack and Eddie suddenly are on the run. If Jack doesn't get Eddie to the court house on time so he can testify, all will be lost.

What ensues are some compelling old-school thrills, with Donner ("Superman," the "Lethal Weapon" movies) ramping up the action within the congested streets of lower Manhattan. The film has a tight, claustrophobic feel that is appealing, as are the performances by Willis and Morse, who take to their characters with the sense that each has seen and done things that the comparatively innocent Eddie couldn't handle.

Perhaps more significant than the movie itself is the idea that we now have arrived at a cultural turning point. Within one week of each other, we have in major theatrical release a movie about corrupt New York cops in "16 Blocks" and a movie about corrupt New Jersey cops in "Running Scared." It's as if the shadow of 9-11 no longer is falling upon Hollywood, which not so long ago would have rejected these movies outright, fearing a cultural backlash and the loss of millions had audiences stayed away.

To a great degree they did--neither was a box-office champ, especially "Scared"--but their presence nevertheless indicates that the forward motion isn't just happening onscreen, but behind the scenes as well.

Grade: B

(Also available on Blu-ray disc)