16 Blocks Review
By David Kempler
48 Hours meets Die Hard, meets Speed, meets Bus 174.
I wish someone would shoot my prisoner.
Take "48 Hours." Mix in a jigger of "Die Hard." Add a dash of "Speed" and a pinch of "Bus 174" and you've got "
16 Blocks." In what is undeniably a sporadically exciting film, an alcoholic, aging, disenfranchised cop, Jack Mosley (Bruce Willis), is assigned the task of transporting prisoner Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) 16 blocks in order for him to testify at a trial. When Mosley takes the rather mundane job as a favor to his lieutenant, he acts like he can't be bothered but he has no choice. It heats up when it becomes clear that lots of people with guns don't like Bunker very much at all.
Director Richard Donner, he of the Lethal Weapon franchise, does a nice job of maintaining an edge-of-your-seat tension. For a while. Unfortunately the unreality of the whole situation eventually takes its toll on the viewer. While some parts are still exciting, the holes in the plot are so enormous as to defy description. Mosley has chance after chance to put a halt to the festivities and save his own life and that of Bunker but instead keeps moving forward through minefield after minefield.
Mos Def's Bunker is unquestionably one of the most annoying characters ever created. Personally, I was shocked that Mosley never beat the hell out of him or at least covered his mouth in duct tape. I would have.
"16 Blocks" has got the cop and prisoner duo relationship of "48 Hours" even down to its Chinatown setting (at least it's a different Chinatown). It's got the Willis-cop-against-everyone feel of "Die Hard". It's got the thoroughly absurd bus scene of "Speed" and the it's got the bus hostage scene of "Bus 174."
What it hasn't got is a smidgen of believability. I won't go into all of the holes in the plot here - you can count them yourself. Let's see who can find the most. Nevertheless, it is a sometimes fun film so it's not a total waste of your time. Just remember to check your brain at the popcorn counter.
