16 Blocks (Widescreen Edition)

16 Blocks (Widescreen Edition) Review

The Amazon synopsis does justice to the movie. An otherwise-routine plot lifted from "The Guantlet" instead turns into a great suspense flick. The casting was perfect. Mos Def annoyed the hell out of me for the first ten minutes but by the time the first guy gets shot, he had me hooked. Like all well-written suspense movies, the plot moves briskly and the characters are not dumber than the audience.

But if this were just a well-written and -directed cop suspense flick, it would get just four stars. What I find most appealing in the movie is its theme of redemption, and how that theme ties the two main characters together and to each other. Redemption does come at a cost, as true redemption must, and for Jack Mosley that cost is high, but not too high to not make it worthwhile.

16 Blocks (Widescreen Edition) Feature

An aging cop is assigned the ordinary task of escorting a fast-talking witness from police custody to a courthouse. There are however forces at work trying to prevent them from making it.Running Time: 102 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG-13 Age: 012569810402 UPC: 012569810402 Manufacturer No: 81040

16 Blocks (Widescreen Edition) Overview

An aging cop is assigned the ordinary task of escorting a fast-talking witness from police custody to a courthouse. There are however forces at work trying to prevent them from making it.

DVD Features:
Alternate endings
Deleted Scenes
Theatrical Trailer

16 Blocks (Widescreen Edition) Specifications

Fully recovering from the wretched flop Timeline, director Richard Donner brings seasoned skill to 16 Blocks, a satisfying thriller boosted by intelligent plotting and the stellar pairing of Bruce Willis and Mos Def in quirky, well-written roles. Making the most of minimal dialogue, Willis plays Jack Mosley, a boozy, disillusioned New York City detective who reluctantly accepts an assignment to transport squeaky-voiced chatterbox Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) to a grand jury hearing where he's scheduled to testify against a group of corrupt, drug-dealing cops. They've got two hours to travel 16 blocks, but the dirtiest cop (David Morse) is determined to kill Eddie before he can testify; what he doesn't know is that Jack senses something in Eddie's seemingly innocent, optimistic demeanor that he wants to protect. Working from a tight, twisting screenplay by Richard Wenk, Donner turns familiar material into an efficient potboiler that delivers tense urban action (like Donner's earlier Mel Gibson hit Conspiracy Theory) while leaving plenty of room for Willis and especially Mos Def (in a critically acclaimed performance) to develop their flawed yet admirable characters. 16 Blocks may be a standard-issue thriller in many respects, but as a showcase for its appealing cast, it quickly rises above its generic limitations. --Jeff Shannon