16 Blocks

16 Blocks
Promotional movie poster
Directed by	Richard Donner
Produced by	Avi Lerner Randall Emmett John Thompson Arnold Rifkin Jim Van Wyck
Written by	Richard Wenk
Starring	Bruce Willis Mos Def David Morse Cylk Cozart Casey Sander
Music by	Klaus Badelt
Cinematography	Glen MacPherson
Editing by	Steven Mirkovich
Studio	Alcon Entertainment Millenium Films Cheyenne Enterprises Emmett/Furla Films The Donners' Company Equity Pictures Nu Image Sunswept Entertainment
Distributed by	Warner Bros. (USA) 20th Century Fox (Brazil) Sony Pictures (Australia)
Release date(s)	March 3, 2006
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United States ; Germany
Language	English
Budget	$55,000,000
Box office	$65,664,721

16 Blocks is a 2006 crime thriller film directed by Richard Donner. It stars Bruce Willis, Mos Def, and David Morse. The movie unfolds in the real time narration method.

Plot

Jack Mosley is an alcoholic and burned-out NYPD detective. After working all night, his lieutenant orders him to escort Eddie Bunker to testify in front of a grand jury before 10 a.m. Jack stops at a liquor store on the way; a gunman ambushes the car with Eddie inside. Jack kills the gunman and runs over his partner.

They go to Jack's regular bar and he kicks everybody out. His call for backup brings Jack's ex-partner, Frank Nugent and several other cops. Frank explains that Eddie is about to testify against a cop, who will testify against others to save himself. Frank takes Jack's gun and gives it to Eddie. Forced, Eddie fires the gun but before his execution Jack uses the bar's shotgun and cripples the executor. Jack and Eddie run out the back door.

Jack retrieves his spare handgun from his sister's apartment and disables one of the cops searching for him. Continuing the escort Frank's men chase Jack and Eddie; they escape behind a barricaded steel door, but find Frank waiting. Trapped, they try to flee using a broken elevator. Jack and Frank trade shots while discussing old memories. Frank tries to convince Jack it is not worth protecting Eddie. At the last second the elevator starts to work; Jack and Eddie ride it up and leave out the front door.

Jack and Eddie enter an apartment building. Eddie knocks on random doors, finally an old Asian man lets them in. Frank's team searches the building floor to floor. In the apartment, Eddie changes clothes and describes his dream of opening a bakery. Jack calls the prosecuting attorney and tells her the address and room number, she sends more cops. Frank receives Jack's location from a mole but as his men break in they realize it is the wrong apartment. Jack walks down the stairs but finds Frank waiting. Jack had Eddie take a different route and Eddie is able to sneak up behind Frank and hold him at gunpoint.

They steal a bus with passengers; ESU shoots the tires immobilizing the bus and creating a hostage situation. Jack forces the passengers to cover the windows with newspaper. Before ESU storms the bus Jack releases all the passengers while Eddie sneaks off in the confusion. Jack remains on the bus but the cops still believe that there are eight more hostages; the bus driver admits he was the last passenger. Eddie returns, yells for the cops not to shoot, and gets back on the bus. Jack drives the bus with ESU chasing them into an alley. ESU shoots Eddie but he and Jack escape into a building.

Jack calls his sister, a paramedic, to mend Eddie's wound. Jack has his sister call an ambulance; inside Jack reveals to Eddie that he is one of the cops that Eddie was testifying against. Jack asks Eddie to leave, and leave the trial to him. Jack limps into the courthouse car park but runs into Frank. Jack confronts Frank about their crimes. Frank finally loses his cool and lets Jack get into an elevator but orders one of his men upstairs to kill him.

Security surrounds Jack but he announces he is testifying instead of Eddie. Frank's man still tries to kill him but a SWAT sniper shoots him. Jack displays a tape recorder that recorded the conversation Frank and Jack had downstairs, and hands it to the prosecuting attorney. Frank stares miserably as the tape discloses his admission.

Two years later, Jack is celebrating his birthday with his sister. For his crimes he spent two years in prison before being released. Eddie sends a letter and photos along with a cake of him and his new bakery (named Eddie and Jack's Good Sign Bakery) listing the names of people who have changed on the cake, including them.

Cast

• Bruce Willis as Det. Jack Mosley
• Mos Def as Edward "Eddie" Bunker
• David Morse as Det. Frank Nugent
• Jenna Stern as Diane Mosley
• Casey Sander as Capt. Dan Gruber
• Cylk Cozart as Det. Jimmy Mulvey
• David Zayas as Det. Robert "Bobby" Torres
• Robert Racki as Det. Jerry Shue
• Patrick Garrow as Det. Touhey
• Sasha Roiz as Det. Kaller
• Jeff Kelly as Det. Shlong
• Conrad Pla as Det. Ortiz
• Hechter Ubarry as Det. Edward Maldonado
• Richard Fitzpatrick as Deputy Commissioner Wagner
• Peter McRobbie as Mike Sheehan
• Mike Keenan as Ray Fitzpatrick
• Robert Clohessy as Sgt. Cannova
• Jess Mal Gibbons as Pederson
• Tig Fong as Briggs
• Brenda Pressley as ADA MacDonald
• Kim Chan as Sam
• Carmen Lopez as Gracie
• Scott McCord as Lt. Kincaid
• Steve Kahan as Restaurant Owner

Casting

Willis originally wanted rapper Ludacris to play the part of Eddie Bunker. This is the second film where David Morse plays the villain to Bruce Willis as the protagonist. The first was Twelve Monkeys in which Morse plays Dr. Peters.

Box office

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

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $12.7 million, which was the second-highest earning 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 $65.6 million worldwide. According to Box Office Mojo, production costs were around US$55 million. The film made $51.53 million on rentals, and remained on the DVD top 50 charts for 17 consecutive weeks.

Reception

Based on 158 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a 55% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 5.9/10. By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating in the 0–100 range based on reviews from top mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 63, based on 34 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".

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."

External links

• 16 Blocks Official Site
• 16 Blocks at the Internet Movie Database
• 16 Blocks at Rotten Tomatoes
• 16 Blocks at AllRovi
• 16 Blocks at Metacritic
• 16 Blocks at Box Office Mojo
• 16 Blocks review by Roger Ebert