Production Companies Alcon Entertainment, Millennium Films, Emmett/Furla Films, Cheyenne Enterprises, Equity Pictures Medienfonds GmbH & Co. KG III, Nu Image Entertainment GmbH, Donners' Company
Fully recovering from the wretched flop Timeline, director Richard Donner brings seasoned skill to 16 Blocks, a satisfying thriller boosted by intelligent plotting and the stellar pairing of Bruce Willis and Mos Def in quirky, well-written roles. Making the most of minimal dialogue, Willis plays Jack Mosley, a boozy, disillusioned New York City detective who reluctantly accepts an assignment to transport squeaky-voiced chatterbox Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) to a grand jury hearing where he's scheduled to testify against a group of corrupt, drug-dealing cops. They've got two hours to travel 16 blocks, but the dirtiest cop (David Morse) is determined to kill Eddie before he can testify; what he doesn't know is that Jack (who is also under investigation) has had a crisis of conscience, and he senses something in Eddie's seemingly innocent, optimistic demeanor that he wants to protect. Working from a tight, twisting screenplay by Richard Wenk, Donner turns familiar material into an efficient potboiler that delivers tense urban action (like Donner's earlier Mel Gibson hit Conspiracy Theory) while leaving plenty of room for Willis and especially Mos Def (in a critically acclaimed performance) to develop their flawed yet admirable characters. 16 Blocks may be a standard-issue thriller in many respects, but as a showcase for its appealing cast, it quickly rises above its generic limitations.--Jeff Shannon
Product Description An aging cop is assigned the ordinary task of escorting a fast-talking witness from police custody to a courthouse. There are however forces at work trying to prevent them from making it.
DVD Features: Alternate endings:Includes shocking alternate ending not shown in theaters; can be viewed by itself or branched from film Deleted Scenes:with Commentary by director Richard Donner and writer Richard Wenk Theatrical Trailer
(47 votes)
2.
A troubled NYPD officer is forced to take a happy, but down-on-his-luck witness 16 blocks from the police station to 100 Centre St., although no one wants the duo to make it.
(46 votes)
3.
All he wanted to do was go home and get a drink.
But at 8:02 a.m., hungover NYPD detective Jack Mosley (BRUCE WILLIS) is assigned a seemingly simple task. Petty criminal Eddie Bunker (MOS DEF) is set to testify before a grand jury at 10:00 a.m. and needs to be taken from lock-up to the courthouse, 16 blocks away. It should take Jack 15 minutes to drop him off at the courthouse and get home.
Broken down, out of shape, with a bad leg and a serious drinking problem, Jack’s role on the force is simple – clock in, clock out and stay out of trouble in between. He’s in no mood to deal with a punk who’s been in and out of jail for more than half his life. But beneath the punk in Eddie lies a man committed to turning his life around and constantly searching for “signs” that will lead him to a brighter future. Jack knows better, though – people don’t change. In Eddie he sees only a pathetic rat who was offered a sweet deal... a rat he will be rid of soon enough.
When Jack shoves Eddie into the back of his car and pulls out into the morning New York city rush hour, he doesn’t notice the van looming behind them. His head throbbing, and Eddie’s flair for conversation only making it worse, Jack stops off at the local liquor store to pick up some breakfast. As Eddie waits inside the locked car, fuming at getting stuck with Jack as his escort, he’s suddenly faced with a much bigger problem – a loaded gun pointed at his head. Jack emerges just in time to prevent Eddie’s execution, killing one assassin and narrowly escaping a second.
When Jack calls for backup, homicide detective Frank Nugent (DAVID MORSE) and his team are first to arrive at the scene. Eddie suddenly goes pale – one of the detectives on Nugent’s team is the man he is supposed to testify against. In an instant, Jack’s quickie trip downtown turns into the nightmare of a lifetime: the criminals that want Eddie dead are actually cops.
There’s a history between Jack and Nugent – a dark history that Jack has been desperately trying to forget. And as Nugent is quick to point out to his old friend, Eddie’s testimony threatens to bring them all down. Nugent offers to stage a mock hostage situation in which Eddie is killed and Jack does what he does best – walk away.
But this time, Jack has been pushed too far and seizes his last opportunity to do the right thing. A split second before Nugent’s team can execute Eddie, Jack sets in motion a chain of events that will irrevocably impact all of their lives.
Battling against time and the corrupt cops gaining on their every move, Jack and Eddie fight their way to the courthouse block by gut-wrenching block. These are Jack’s streets, too – and he won’t go quietly. In Eddie, he finds purpose, hope and the strength to do something he should have done six years ago. And Eddie begins to see that all of the “signs” he’s been following were meant to lead him to Jack. It’s the story of how two men change – and change each other – during a tense 16 block struggle between life and death.
(42 votes)
4.
In New York City, a hard-bitten police officer (Bruce Willis) is in charge of escorting a chatty, upbeat witness (Mos Def) downtown to court. The walk proves to be one of the longest and most dangerous of their lives, as it is many people's interests to dispose of the witness.
(40 votes)
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