16 Blocks is a 'beat the clock' film. Jack Mosley has 118 minutes to deliver a police informant who has cut a deal with the D.A. to testify against a group of corrupt detectives and cops. Things become complicated when Jack's ex-partner comes to kill Eddie, the man being escorted, and now must go 16 blocks with Frank and his group of cops chasing after him, all of whom are corrupt and will stop at nothing to keep Eddie quiet.
Bruce Willis is a great actor and this is one of his less appreciated roles. I found him to be very intriguing with his virtually silent mood and his many problems. Willis, even with what seems to be fewer lines then usual and far from his comedic role in the Die Hard series. What Willis' character has is not much of a personality and a much darker side to him then shown in the film. I found what he did with his role as Jack to be a top notch performance for a film like this.
Mos Def, who plays Eddie, gives, in my opinion, the best performance of his career. He's a non-stop talking kind of person who seems to have little care in the world for anything besides baking and talking. I wasn't expecting Mos Def to do much of anything on screen but when Eddie and Jack began to get hunted his brilliant acting became clear. I found his acting to be a great example of under-appreciated acting in films.
The film is heavily under-appreciated which I have trouble finding out why. Yes the plot is a bit shaky. I'm pretty sure corrupt cops who are trying to silence a witness would not be attempting to kill him in broad daylight on the streets of New York City but then again I'm not a cop and I'm not a corrupt one at that. Also some of the shootouts seemed a bit unbelievable especially considering the amount of risk some of the characters put themselves into and how little they care about it.
Overall the story was a bit shaky at times but still managed to work. I found Bruce Willis' and Mos Def's performances both very strong. It's an entertaining flick. There is a lot of action and violence which I'm sure a lot of people won't mind seeing. What makes the film a little better then the typical action shoot out film is that you end up caring for some of the characters, such as Eddie. Overall not to much wrong with the film. It's a case of a sub-par story line with good action and good acting around it.
3/5 Stars
Bruce Willis is a great actor and this is one of his less appreciated roles. I found him to be very intriguing with his virtually silent mood and his many problems. Willis, even with what seems to be fewer lines then usual and far from his comedic role in the Die Hard series. What Willis' character has is not much of a personality and a much darker side to him then shown in the film. I found what he did with his role as Jack to be a top notch performance for a film like this.
Mos Def, who plays Eddie, gives, in my opinion, the best performance of his career. He's a non-stop talking kind of person who seems to have little care in the world for anything besides baking and talking. I wasn't expecting Mos Def to do much of anything on screen but when Eddie and Jack began to get hunted his brilliant acting became clear. I found his acting to be a great example of under-appreciated acting in films.
The film is heavily under-appreciated which I have trouble finding out why. Yes the plot is a bit shaky. I'm pretty sure corrupt cops who are trying to silence a witness would not be attempting to kill him in broad daylight on the streets of New York City but then again I'm not a cop and I'm not a corrupt one at that. Also some of the shootouts seemed a bit unbelievable especially considering the amount of risk some of the characters put themselves into and how little they care about it.
Overall the story was a bit shaky at times but still managed to work. I found Bruce Willis' and Mos Def's performances both very strong. It's an entertaining flick. There is a lot of action and violence which I'm sure a lot of people won't mind seeing. What makes the film a little better then the typical action shoot out film is that you end up caring for some of the characters, such as Eddie. Overall not to much wrong with the film. It's a case of a sub-par story line with good action and good acting around it.
3/5 Stars