Review of 16 Blocks (2006) by Meritcoba — 19 Apr 2016

Bruce Willis looks particular bad as an unhappy aging cop with a drinking problem(drinking on the job! My My) who gets saddled with escorting witness Mos Def to a courthouse that is like sixteen blocks down the street. You might say, "That isn't far at all!", but some bad cops headed by David Morse make the going rough. And boy what do 16 blocks feel far.

I had to blink for a moment to recognize Bruce for he looked thin and pretty sick with a white pasty face and red eyelids. For a moment he seemed at home as the rundown detective who gets through his day downing liquor and was expecting something of a reprise of his role in Pulp Fiction or Sin City. To commend Bruce, he does give it a try but unfortunately for him it isn't that kind of movie.

While Bruce plays his role with verve the rest of the movie is something we have seen a gazillion times before. Which isn't bad really, but it would have been better if Bruce had been given something of a script that actually accommodates his role or they had settled for the action movie kind of thing and left that part out. Now it feels like the movie is flip flopping between the plight of a down and out cop and some silly action sequences.

The movies does have some nice scenes involving Bruce and Mos when Mos learns Bruce that anyone can change for the better, but the Mos' role is maimed by the irritating nasal tone that someone has written into his character. As if someone wanted to undercut the character by making him talk silly.

David Morse is a decent bad cop, but his role is so hammered shut that not even the greatest of actors could have done anything with it. The key scene is at the end when Bruce confronts Morse. How that works out I can't tell here, but it's isn't a pretty scene and what happens is totally unsurprising. I thought that Deus ex Machima were a no no nowadays.. but we get one in this movie.

In the end the good cops that aided the bad cops get redeemed. Which is commendable, really. Not all cops are bad. At least: I hope not.

The lowdown: despite the actors doing a good job, the story is just too much hampered by silly action scenes and some badly drawn characters. A pity really.