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16 Blocks

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16 Blocks (2006)

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Reviews Counted:34

Fresh:18

Rotten:16

Average Rating:5.9/10

Consensus: Despite strong performances from Bruce Willis and Mos Def, 16 Blocks is a shopworn entry in the buddy-action genre.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for violence, intense sequences of action, and some strong language

Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Theatrical Release:Mar 3, 2006 Wide

Box Office: $36,883,539

Synopsis: 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)... 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. --© Warner Bros. [More]

Starring: Bruce Willis, Mos Def, David Morse, Casey Sander

Starring: Bruce Willis, Mos Def, David Morse, Casey Sander, Cylk Cozart

Director: Richard Donner

Director: Richard Donner
Screenwriter: Richard Wenk
Producer: Jim Van Wyck, Avi Lerner, Randall Emmett, John Thompson, George Furla, Hadeel Reda, Derek Hoffman
Composer: Klaus Badelt
Studio: Warner Bros.

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Release:

Jun 13, 2006

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • 16 Blocks
  • 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.
  • Source: Warner Home Video
  •  
     
     
     

    Reviews for 16 Blocks

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    1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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    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.

    Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
    05/12/06
    David Edelstein
    David Edelstein
    New York Magazine
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Willis and Def -- funny even if he overdoes the whiny shrieking -- are a terrific team.

    Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
    03/09/06
    Peter Travers
    Peter Travers
    Rolling Stone
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    I thought this film is one long corny cliché.

    Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
    03/06/06
    Richard Roeper
    Richard Roeper
    Ebert & Roeper
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Another urban action thriller that's better than some, worse than most and so forgettable that it's possible to forget it while watching it.

    Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
    03/03/06
    Mick LaSalle
    Mick LaSalle
    San Francisco Chronicle
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    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.

    Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
    03/03/06
    Carrie Rickey
    Carrie Rickey
    Philadelphia Inquirer
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Getting anywhere in New York gridlock can take forever, especially when you're following Bruce Willis in a cookie-cutter action thriller.

    Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
    03/03/06
    Lisa Rose
    Lisa Rose
    Newark Star-Ledger
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    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.

    Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
    03/03/06
    Lou Lumenick
    Lou Lumenick
    New York Post
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    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.

    Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
    03/03/06
    Jack Mathews
    Jack Mathews
    New York Daily News
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    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.

    Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
    03/03/06
    Amy Biancolli
    Amy Biancolli
    Houston Chronicle
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    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.

    Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
    03/03/06
    Tom Long
    Tom Long
    Detroit News
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    The Lethal Weapon movies were all about charismatic actors breathing life into stock characters. That doesn't happen with Willis and Def.

    Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
    03/03/06
    John Monaghan
    John Monaghan
    Detroit Free Press
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    16 Blocks emerges from the seasonal shadows to provide a fair measure of entertainment.

    Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
    03/03/06
    Robert Denerstein
    Robert Denerstein
    Denver Rocky Mountain News
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

    Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
    03/03/06
    Lisa Kennedy
    Lisa Kennedy
    Denver Post
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

    Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
    03/03/06
    Allison Benedikt
    Allison Benedikt
    Chicago Tribune
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    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.

    Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
    03/03/06
    Wesley Morris
    Wesley Morris
    Boston Globe
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    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.

    Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
    03/03/06
    Rick Groen
    Rick Groen
    Globe and Mail
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    No wonder the trip takes so long: 16 Blocks insists on taking only the most heavily travelled routes.

    Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
    03/03/06
    Geoff Pevere
    Geoff Pevere
    Toronto Star
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

    comment Comment
    03/02/06
    Manohla Dargis
    Manohla Dargis
    New York Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    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.

    Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
    03/02/06
    Stephanie Zacharek
    Stephanie Zacharek
    Salon.com
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    The film's depiction of a defeated man summoning the moral courage to address his past is, satisfyingly, more '70s than '80s.

    Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
    03/02/06
    Kevin Crust
    Kevin Crust
    Los Angeles Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic
     
     
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