16 Blocks: Critic Reviews

The two characters have the luxury of real, reflective time to fill, something so rare in an age of zip-bang-crash-zap action-pic editing as to be classified as 'old-fashioned.'

Short on words and long on action, Richard Donner's adrenaline-spiked action flick is a compendium of familiar genre components.

Willis has been playing slight variations on this role for years now, and though the films don't get better, his performances do.

16 Blocks seems as if it has been around the block a time or two.

It seems such a waste to go onto the actual streets of Lower Manhattan and shoot a movie this stupid.

16 Blocks feels like a remake of Clint Eastwood's The Gauntlet. The Gauntlet was exciting nonsense. 16 Blocks is just dutiful, until all the duty crowds out any fun.

It's a small movie trying to seem epic, or a bloated monster trying to seem lean (real B movies don't have 14 producers), but it's clear that at 99 minutes, 16 Blocks should've been at least 20 minutes shorter still.

16 Blocks is the best of this trio [of recent crooked cop movies, including Dirty and Running Scared], thanks to the winning performances of its stars -- a restrained Bruce Willis and a very likable Mos Def.

Its dialogue is sassy, its plotting is taut (maybe too taut, as key segues are AWOL), but 16 Blocks has more on the brain than mere distraction. It aims to save souls.

[The film has] an air of believability that thankfully doesn't get lost in the sometimes fast pace of the flick.

It's the clamor and weak script that make it feel like a flatfoot trying to chase down a better movie.

A happier surprise is the smart work of director Richard Donner: 16 Blocks is all jumble and jangle-crowds, snarled traffic, and discordant car horns.

The bedrock of the plot is the dogged determination of the Bruce Willis character. Jack may be middle-aged, he may be tired, he may be balding, he may be a drunk, but if he's played by Bruce Willis you don't want to bet against him.

In the end it's not the predictable action but the lack of chemistry and camaraderie that sinks 16 Blocks.

16 Blocks is a police procedural in the change-your-life spirit of Oprah. And I say this with the deepest respect for both genres.

This action-thriller is so predictable that you probably could outline the plot after watching a 30-second TV spot. But it's so entertaining you won't budge from your seat until the final bullet has flown.

While 16 Blocks may be two blocks and three left-hand turns too long, it's still one sturdy cop thriller, filled with grit, corruption, action and redemption and fueled by strong performances from Bruce Willis, Mos Def and David Morse.

It's standard, familiar fare: Take away the profanity and swap Bruce Willis with Richard Crenna, and you would have a perfect CBS movie of the week, circa 1982.

Idiotic, for sure, but what saves 16 Blocks is Richard Donner's slick direction and the occasional flash of humor you get in most Bruce Willis flicks, whether it's in the script or not. He can scarcely say a line without smirking.

16 Blocks does raise the banner for the tradition of the textured urban cop drama, spurred by action but made substantial by characters at crossroads.

The actors seem to have inspired the hack director Richard Donner and the cat-and-mouse game is much grittier than one would expect from the creator of the Lethal Weapon series.

[Richard] Donner can direct this sort of thriller in his sleep, but he squanders the movie's sense of urgency for little acting or screen-writing indulgences.

No wonder the trip takes so long: 16 Blocks insists on taking only the most heavily travelled routes.

No one can dismiss 16 Blocks as a mere formula flick -- it's a mere two or three formula flicks all fighting for top billing.

This is a sturdy little cop thriller, and even when it stretches the bounds of plausibility, you go with it, partly because you believe -- almost against your better judgment -- in what the characters are doing.