16 Blocks

''16 Blocks'' is a 2006 American action thriller film directed by Richard Donner and starring Bruce Willis, Mos Def, and David Morse. The film unfolds in the real time narration method. It marked the final directed film for Donner during his lifetime in addition to the last acting role for his cousin and frequent collaborator Steve Kahan.

Plot

Jack Mosley is an alcoholic, burned-out NYPD detective. Despite a grueling late shift the night before, his lieutenant orders him to escort a witness, Eddie Bunker, from local custody to the courthouse sixteen blocks away to testify on a police corruption case before a grand jury at 10 a.m. Bunker tries to be friendly with Mosley, telling him of his aspirations to move to Seattle and open a bakery with his sister who he has never met, but Mosley is uninterested and insists on stopping at a liquor store.

Hired assassins shoot up the escort car, and Mosley drags Bunker to his favorite bar to take shelter and call for backup. Mosley's former partner, Frank Nugent, and several other officers arrive. Nugent admits that he is one of the officers named in the corruption case, and that out of loyalty, Mosley should let him kill him. The corrupt cops try to frame Bunker for firing at an officer, but Mosley intervenes, rescuing Bunker and fleeing.

Mosley briefly stops at his sister Diane's apartment and learns that the police have already approached her about his activities earlier that day. He and Bunker take steps to further elude their pursuers, and Mosley is wounded in the process. They become cornered in a run-down apartment building as Nugent and his men search floor by floor. Mosley calls the district attorney's office, but purposely gives the wrong apartment number, suspecting there is a mole involved.

Mosley and Bunker use the distraction to escape onto a passenger bus and as the police follow them, Mosley is forced to treat the passengers as hostages. The bus crashes into a construction site and is soon surrounded by the ESU. Not wanting the passengers to get caught up in crossfire, Mosley allows them to go free while enabling Bunker to escape in the chaos. Mosley finds a tape recorder while going through the passenger's luggage and prepares a farewell message to Diane.

To his surprise, Bunker returns to the bus; Nugent lines up a shot but is ordered to stand down. Bunker has come to see Mosley as an ally and wants to be there for him to see this through. Bunker's tenacity convinces Mosley to keep fighting, and he manages to drive the bus into an alley, temporarily blocking the police from following them. He finds that Bunker has been wounded, and calls Diane, a paramedic, for help. Diane treats Bunker and arranges for a second ambulance to take them to the hospital. Bunker learns that Mosley is also due to be named in the investigation but is willing to testify in his place. Mosley gets off a block from the courthouse and wishes Bunker luck with his bakery, instructing the paramedic to take Bunker to the Port Authority and put him on a bus for Seattle. Bunker promises to send him a cake on his birthday.

Mosley continues to the courthouse, where the police and ESU are waiting for him as well as the district attorney. Entering through the underground garage, he again refuses Nugent's pleas not to testify. Nugent then orders one of his men to gun down Mosley as he enters, but an ESU sniper intercepts and kills the shooter. Mosley informs the district attorney that he will testify in exchange for Bunker having his record expunged, also revealing that he had recorded the conversation with Nugent in the garage on the tape recorder, which he submits as evidence.

Two years later, Mosley is freed from prison. He celebrates his birthday with Diane and other friends and is surprised to find that the cake had indeed come from Bunker, who has been successful in starting "Eddie & Jack's Good Sign Bakery" in Seattle.

Cast

Willis originally wanted rapper Ludacris to play the part of Eddie Bunker. ''16 Blocks'' is the second film in which David Morse plays the villain to Bruce Willis as the protagonist; the first was ''12 Monkeys''.

Release

Theatrical

The film, released by Warner Bros., opened in the United States on March 3, 2006.

Alternate ending

The film was shot with the ending written for the screenplay (as described by Donner and writer Richard Wenk), but they realized during filming that there was "a better opportunity to have a little more empathy and wrap the picture up in a different way." The ending written for the film changed the scenario in which Frank after watching Jack get in the elevator, instructs Bobby to stand down, saying it's over. But Bobby's radio is off and he is still planning on ambushing Jack. In the lobby, Jack is approached by District Attorney McDonald who says he will testify in Eddie's place in return for Eddie's record being expunged. As Jack reaches into his pocket, Bobby appears and Frank, having run upstairs to stop Bobby, leaps in front of Jack to protect him and gets shot, causing them both to fall down the stairs. When they land at the bottom it's discovered the bullet went through Frank and fatally hit Jack. The tape recorder with Jack and Frank's conversation on it is heard playing in Jack's pocket. Frank tearfully listens and looks at Jack with sorrow. The tape is taken to the jury, Frank and Bobby are led away and a blanket is placed over Jack's body. Sometime later Diane receives a cake from Eddie, supposed to be for Jack's birthday along with a letter saying he sent the cake, hoping to hear from Jack but never did. He was then informed of what happened, he acknowledges Jack and wishes him a happy birthday.

Reception

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $12.7 million, which was the second-highest-grossing film of the weekend. As of its May 15, 2006 closing date, the film grossed a total of $36.895 million in the U.S. box office. It made $65.7 million worldwide. According to Box Office Mojo, production costs were around $55 million. The film made $51.53 million on rentals and remained on the DVD top 50 charts for 17 consecutive weeks.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received an approval rating of 55% approval rating from 159 critics, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's consensus reads: "Despite strong performances from Bruce Willis and Mos Def, ''16 Blocks'' barely rises above being a shopworn entry in the buddy-action genre." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 34 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Michael Atkinson of ''The Village Voice'' commented that "the clichés come thick on the ground" and called it "a small movie trying to seem epic, or a bloated monster trying to seem lean." Peter Travers of ''Rolling Stone'' gave the film two-and-a-half out of four stars and called Willis and Mos Def "a terrific team," concluding that "Until Richard Wenk's script drives the characters into a brick wall of pukey sentiment, it's a wild ride." ''Chicago Sun-Times'' critic Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars and commended Mos Def for his "character performance that's completely unexpected in an action movie," while calling the film "a chase picture conducted at a velocity that is just about right for a middle-age alcoholic." Wesley Morris of ''The Boston Globe'' described the film as admirably old fashioned, praising Donner for his direction, but criticized the film for lacking originality, saying it feels like a remake of '' The Gauntlet'' directed by Clint Eastwood.

Remake

In May 2013, Original Entertainment confirmed to have sealed a five-picture deal with Millennium Films to produce Bollywood remakes of ''Rambo'', '' The Expendables'', ''16 Blocks'', '' 88 Minutes'', and ''Brooklyn's Finest'', with the productions for ''Rambo'' and ''The Expendables'' expected to start at the end of that year.

References

External links

16 Blocks Official Site
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2006 films
2006 action thriller films
2000s buddy cop films
2000s police procedural films
Alcon Entertainment films
American buddy cop films
American action thriller films
American police detective films
2000s English-language films
Films about corruption in the United States
Films about the New York City Police Department
Films about police misconduct
Films about witness protection
Films directed by Richard Donner
Films produced by Randall Emmett
Films scored by Klaus Badelt
Films set in New York City
Films with screenplays by Richard Wenk
MoviePass Films films
Nu Image films
Warner Bros. films
2000s American films
English-language action thriller films
English-language buddy comedy films