Title: 16 Blocks
Genre: Action/Drama/Thriller
Cast: Bruce Willis, Mos Def, David Morse …
Director: Richard Donner
Release: (2006)
From the moment that a limping, pot-bellied, mustachioed Bruce Willis walks into the opening scene of 16 Blocks, it’s like going home to see one of your old high school buddies, the one who never quite got his act together, and saddling up to the bar with him one more time. You’ve known this guy forever now and, despite the fact that you’ve long since grown up and moved on, the truth is part of you is secretly glad he hasn’t changed. You know he’d be better off if someone were to let him know that his act is getting old and doesn’t always fly anymore, but selfishly you’re ok with just letting him keep on doing it because there’s a part of you that, every now and then, still gets a kick out of seeing him like this.
And so it is that we find Bruce Willis in his latest incarnation as an aging, broken down cop who hates life, loves booze and is getting too old for this s*#t – this time named Detective Jack Mosley. But if Bruce Willis’ portrayal of Mosley feels derivative, it’s only because Richard Donner’s 2006 testosterone tickler about a New York City detective assigned to escort a witness to his court date, against all odds and a gaggle of crooked cops, calls for nothing less. As the Eddie Bunker, the witness in Mosley’s charge, Mos Def is spot on in recreating the Damon Wayans character in a movie that could have easily been released as Last Boy Scout 2. David Morse also stars as the only cop in the city of New York without a moustache, and Mosley’s ex-partner Frank Nugent.
For 110 minutes, 16 Blocks takes us on a predictable, yet somewhat guiltily entertaining, ride from the jail house to the court house alternating between scenes of implausible action and unlikely banter – both of which feel entirely natural to this film. In keeping with the character that Willis has perfected in so many films before, Mosley is a sarcastic, jaded, hobbled cop who’s long since given up pretending to care. As a result, his superiors have long since given up on pretending to respect him anymore either, doling out the most menial of assignments to keep him placated and out of the way until the day he finally retires or turns up dead in an alley with a bottle in his hands. And so it is that Mosley catches the inglorious assignment of escorting a witness across town to deliver his testimony to a grand jury set to expire in just a few hours. What Mosley quickly discovers, however, is that this is no ordinary witness in an ordinary case.
Eddie Bunker is the key witness in the prosecution of a corrupt cop whose conviction could expose dozens of others in the precinct, all of whom are out looking to prevent that from happening by any means necessary. From here on out the script pretty much writes itself. Mosley switches easily from busted down alcoholic to quick-thinking, athletic, accurate action-hero as the situation demands. And the mounting pressure of the situation inevitably brings them closer together, as Mosley’s icy exterior begins to melt to Bunker’s simple-minded charm. Sun up, sun down, good guys win, bad guys lose, roll credits.
16 Blocks contributes nothing to film that hasn’t been offered a thousand times before, but taken for what it is – a mindless, surpriseless, action distraction that delivers what you’re expecting from beginning to end – you probably won’t be too disappointed.
Grade: C+
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