Holly
03-06-2006, 12:52 PM
A policeman who's seen it all. A witness who's seen more than he should have.
And a plot we've seen more than a few times before.
That pretty much sums up “16 Blocks,” the latest effort from Richard Donner, the director of the “Lethal Weapon” movies. He certainly knows how to build films around mismatched couples, but the mismatch needs to be more compelling than Bruce Willis and Mos Def turn out to be this time around.
Willis plays a weary New York cop assigned to escort a witness (Def) across the 16 streets from a jail to the courthouse where the man is slated to testify against corrupt police officers. A lot of people don't want him to get there, thus the series of shootouts and other forms of assaults that greet the duo as they try to maneuver their way through the more-dangerous-than-usual concrete canyons.
Donner is no slouch at staging action sequences, but he has to work against the general familiarity with this sort of set-up. The Clint Eastwood movie “The Gauntlet,” from nearly 30 years ago, is just one example of the same premise ... right down to the twists meant to leave you surprised by who the hero ultimately can't trust. But they come as no surprises in this case.
The only thing that really differentiates this Willis performance from most others of recent years is the mustache he sports, and that's not a whole lot. Mos Def has an edgy quality, as well he should in the role of someone who's a walking target, but it's not enough energy to compensate for the amount that's missing.
As the ultimate result, “16 Blocks” feels like a much longer trip than it's meant to be.
(Rated PG-13)
And a plot we've seen more than a few times before.
That pretty much sums up “16 Blocks,” the latest effort from Richard Donner, the director of the “Lethal Weapon” movies. He certainly knows how to build films around mismatched couples, but the mismatch needs to be more compelling than Bruce Willis and Mos Def turn out to be this time around.
Willis plays a weary New York cop assigned to escort a witness (Def) across the 16 streets from a jail to the courthouse where the man is slated to testify against corrupt police officers. A lot of people don't want him to get there, thus the series of shootouts and other forms of assaults that greet the duo as they try to maneuver their way through the more-dangerous-than-usual concrete canyons.
Donner is no slouch at staging action sequences, but he has to work against the general familiarity with this sort of set-up. The Clint Eastwood movie “The Gauntlet,” from nearly 30 years ago, is just one example of the same premise ... right down to the twists meant to leave you surprised by who the hero ultimately can't trust. But they come as no surprises in this case.
The only thing that really differentiates this Willis performance from most others of recent years is the mustache he sports, and that's not a whole lot. Mos Def has an edgy quality, as well he should in the role of someone who's a walking target, but it's not enough energy to compensate for the amount that's missing.
As the ultimate result, “16 Blocks” feels like a much longer trip than it's meant to be.
(Rated PG-13)