Released: 03/03/06

Viewed: 12:30pm 03/04/06

Starring: Bruce Willis, Mos Def, David Morse

Directed by: Richard Donner

Warner Brothers Official Site of the movie

Walking 16 blocks in New York City is the equivalent of walking about a mile and a half. Shouldn't take you more than 20 minutes, even at a slow shuffle. Even with window-shopping. Even if you're a 60-year alcoholic cop chained to a criminal. Door to door, you're looking at 20 minutes. Throw in some dirty cops and it sort of changes everything. But that's good. I don't think I would've wanted to watch a movie about two guys walking down the street.

Bruce Willis is an old and tired cop whose given a last second chore of escorting a small time crook (Mos Def) to court. Things quickly change from easy to "freakin' duck!" when Wills saves Def from a group of would be hit men. We learn these attackers are crooked NYPD officers and suddenly suspect there's a lot more to this small time crook than meets the eye. Willis' makes a morality call and the chase begins.

Kind of a fun set up that has a lot of good pay offs the more you learn about the past of Mos and Bruce's characters. Each has secrets that explain who they are and the way they're behaving. It's as much a character study as it is a thrilling chase.

16 Blocks has an odd staggered pacing that would occasionally take me out of the momentum the movie had built up. It was a combination of bursts of excitement anchored by long periods of reflection. I like the way Dustin Rowels summed it up calling it "?the kind of tension middle-aged folks can probably appreciate ? relaxingly taut, but well short of the heart-stopping adrenalization that the teenaged demographic seems to prefer."

Your parents will approve. Your grandparents will crap themselves with excitement. The rest of us will ho-hum our way into the parking lot. You don't necessarily need a lot of action or explosions to get the tension up, but the running should have never stopped. The fear of getting caught should have been constant. But in these 16 blocks there always seems to be an empty apartment or an available back room where they can rest up and analyze the situation? to death. It got to the point where I almost dialed 911 just so I could report their location and get the chase back on!

Thankfully the acting is strong enough to make most of those slower moments still work. David Morse ,who has made a career out of being a bad guy with a good guys job, is so much fun to watch in 16 Blocks. Every time I've seen him before he's melted into the background behind people like Ed Harris and Sam Jackson. I always found him to be memorable but never so much that I could picture him as the principal baddie. The key, it turns out, was to give him something proper to do. With men to yell at and a few one on one's opposite Willis, Morse makes the most of this film and shines brightly.

Willis and Mos are a great pair on screen. They have good banter and solid chemistry, and each has their moment to really show what they can do with a dramatic monologue. I wouldn't say they hit home runs, but it wasn't mind numbing. None of this is too surprising. Despite is action persona, Bruce Willis can act. That's not a secret, and despite begin another rapper turned actor, everyone knows that Mos Def can act. His reputation as one of the "go to" guys in Hollywood is well earned.

Mos has been building slowly with smaller roles over the past few years, and I really respect that path. He could have been the star of some crazy stoner comedy by this now, but he's hung back and taken less flash roles in respectable movies with talented people. He's on the right path to becoming the "it" actor in Hollywood. Best of all, he's got the skills to back it up. Well shown in 16 Blocks, even if his voice did get a little annoying.

If only Mos Def's coolness was enough to carry this movie all the way through. Eventually it just slows down and gets not only boring but predictable as well. Too much character development of characters we've seen a thousand times before. Truth is, after it heats up for that first assassination attempt, it cools down and never gets that hot again. I don't know. I'm an action boy; I need my explosions. Rating: 4.5 out of 10

It's hard to go too low with this because I was really entertained. Even with that ending coming at you from a mile away, it was still a good time. 16 Blocks is never so boring that I'm checking my watch every 20 seconds, but it's rarely so exciting that I couldn't check it if I wanted to. Watch it if you must, but it'll be out on DVD before you know it.

DVD worthy?: Mmmm, maybe. I feel like it dragged a little in the middle but a second viewing might help it along. You never know, sometimes it does. I'm not in love with this movie so I'm leaning towards "no" but I just bought Assault on Precinct 13 for 9 bucks, so it's really hard to say where my heads going to be at from day to day.

If you liked this movie check out: Sin City

Nothing leaps out as a direct comparison. It's weird; sometimes it's so easy to say that one movie reminds me of another movie and other times I really struggle with it. It's not like 16 Blocks is an original idea. It's a movie about dirty cops. How many movies about dirty cops are there? Isn't there a movie right now called Dirty? What's that about? Oh, strippers you say?? Awesome.

This is also a movie where Bruce Willis plays a cop. He does that at least once a year. I've already poked fun at it in the comic for Hostage. But it's cool, I just can't think of a movie to recommend. So you should probably just watch Sin City again.

Trailer Hitch: Click

Click is the new Adam Sandler movie. When those three words are strung together it can a bunch of different reactions. Sandler makes movies that do very well, but I would say his reputation of making crappy movies is more prominent then his reputation for making successful ones.

I happened to be a Sandler fan, but you see the title of the comic. Part of me will always be in love with the comedy standard set with Happy Gilmore and the true emotion achieved with The Wedding Singer. From my perspective those are his two greatest movies and they belong in everyone's DVD collection.

His other movies range from good to unwatchable, but each has their place. More importantly, each has some laughs. Even the worst Sandler movie has 4 or 5 really strong laughs. They may be hard to find, but they're there. Click is about a man who buys a magical remote form Christopher Walken that can pause, rewind, mute, etc real life. Cool idea. Sounds like a good episode of Duck Tales. I'm actually really looking forward to where they'll take it. It has a lot of potential to reach the comedy levels of Gilmore, and the heart of Singer. Of course adding in Walken, Sean Astin, and Kate Beckinsale with her giant hair, doesn't hurt things at all.

Vote Bonus:

I wanted to do a new incentive but still remind folks that Joe Loses an Eye event is still going on. Whatch Kyle the movie snob get his revenge! This movie snob shall take no more!

b>About the Comic:

Ok, if you're lost then read the strip from Friday. (Obnoxious winking)

Non movie related stuff:

Not much to say for now, I've got some work to finish up before the weekend is over. But if you want to see something I finished up last week, check out this piece I was commissioned to do for a Upsidaisium. It was great, I was just told to draw floating buildings on rocks and just have a good time. It really was fun too. I never draw stuff like that and part of me really enjoyed the change of pace. The room left in the middle was originally for text that said the site name. Part of me thinks it could use that text, but I'm not picky. As long as the customer is happy?

Oh, also go spend some time at the Temple of a Thousand Tears. It's a great fantasy strip by a good friend to the Digital Pimps - Trevor. He's just come back form a hiatus and is now updating every Tuesday and Thursday. I've been a fan of the series so I'm anxious to see where he takes it. Check it out.

Thanks for reading, guys.