Review of 16 Blocks (2006) by T C — 08 Dec 2009

Average Cop Movie is Average.

Story: The story is fairly archetypal within the police procedural genre: A beat down cop defends an innocent on the run from the polished but corrupt police establishment. There are many, many cop movies that share this premise, and most of them are written so much better. I'm going to get crucified when I say this but even Street Kings had a more inspired version of the same story, and LA Confidential has no fears of this movie ever catching up to it either. The archetype works, so this story isn't bad, but it just feels adequate and lifeless. C.

Acting: Mos Def's character annoyed me so badly that I kept hoping his character would die in this movie, and the worst part is that I know he can do better, like he did in Be Kind Rewind. Bruce Willis does an effective job of playing an alcoholic cop, but nothing terribly memorable here. The real show stealer was David Morse as one of the most likable villains in the history of movies. He's doing a horrible thing, but he just seems like such a nice guy while doing it, and he'd probably even invite Willis over for supper after the dust settled, assuming he got his way. He's good... and he bumps the acting category up to C level.

Direction: The atmosphere is very depressing, which was probably by design for this story. There are lots of awkward pauses, lots of Willis giving confused looks and looks of disdain for his life instead of a reply to of character's dialog. Again, this is perfectly acceptable, but not exceptional. It's average, and average direction gets a C.

Visuals: This is probably the strongest part of this movie. The visuals make use of lots of shadow, which assist the atmosphere of depression. The Godfather has no worries of losing it's title of best use of shadows in a movie, but this is really this movie's strong point. B.

Overall: This movie is okay. Average. If it's on TV and you've got nothing better to do, watch it. If your local library has it, rent it. I wouldn't pay anymore than about five dollars to watch this one. And you certainly don't need to be searching this one out unless you're a huge fan of some member of the cast or crew. C.

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