16 Blocks

There are few actors in Hollywood who, solely by their presence in a movie, make me want to see it. Bruce Willis is on that short list (along with John Cusack, Paul Giamotti, and Kurt Russell). And Bruce Willis is the only reason I wanted to see "16 Blocks," a fairly standard buddy action movie about an aging, alcoholic cop (Jack Mosley, played by Bruce), assigned to transport a witness (Mos Def) 16 blocks in NYC to testify before a grand jury. Of course, the people against whom Mos must testify are going to try to kill him before that distance can be crossed.

This movie could have been rather blah. In lesser hands, it would've been. What maked me like the movie wasn't the action, or the plot (which has been done over and over and over again). I liked it because of Bruce and, surprisingly, Mos Def. Bruce has no qualms about playing a character as old as Bruce really is. And Mos is great. A wonderful character role that, while very grating, is also very real.

Truthfully, there isn't as much action in this movie as I expected - and that's a good thing. There's action, make no mistake about that. But there are some good character moments, and they work. Now, the plot device requiring Mos to get to the courthouse by no later than 10am is a stretch. A big time stretch. But I see why it's there. It's there because it would just be too easy for Bruce and Mos to just hide, and wait for the heat to cool. But they can't because there's this fabricated time limit the screenwriters gave them. It's a bullshit time limit, but I'll allow it.

So. I liked 16 Blocks. But don't expect anything new by way of plot. It's all been done. And I mean ALL. As soon as you see the microtape recorder, you know someone's gonna get taped unknowingly. As soon as Mos asks Mosley a logic riddle (one that the writers lamely took from one of the thousands of forwarded e-mails we've all seen before), you know that, at the end of the movie, Jack is going to give Mos the right answer, thereby solidifying their moment together. And, (I'm really not giving anything away here) as soon as you meet Jack's former partner, you KNOW that he's a bad guy.

But Bruce and Mos carry this weak plot on their shoulders solidly. And they both deserve the credit for this positive review. Without them, frankly I wouldn't have been able to recommend this film. With them, it's a definite renter.