16 Blocks

I mainly saw this film due to Richard Donner directing it. What I noticed afterwards after the film was how unseen Donner's hand was in telling the story, because it's told very straight forward, but very assuredly. It's almost a 2 hour film in real time on the screen, which lent a bit of tension to the deadline set within the film.

Bruce Willis is an older, paunchier cop named Jack Mosely who gets tasked with taking a witness, Eddie (Mos Def) 16 blocks to the courthouse in about 2 hours. Eddie's testimony is very important to the case that involves cops, and this has more cops chasing down Jack and Eddie through the street of New York City because Eddie's testimony could send some cops to jail for their actions.

Overall, not your average "unlikely" buddy formula movie, and though it gets a little predictable towards the end, it's still a decent matinee, and I was surprised at the smattering of applause my audience gave to the film at its conclusion.

I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.