16 Blocks

Jack Mosley, an alcoholic and burnt-out detective, is handed a simple job: take a witness to the courthouse. The distance is sixteen blocks, the time is about two hours, and the people trying to stop him are his own colleagues. It runs in real time; the film is 102 minutes and so is roughly the story. This was the last film Richard Donner directed in his lifetime. Bruce Willis plays Mosley and Mos Def the witness. Roger Ebert gave it three stars out of four and singled out Mos Def for a character performance completely unexpected in an action movie. An alternate ending was shot and dropped, with the filmmakers preferring a better opportunity for empathy and a different way to close the picture. On a 52 million dollar budget it grossed 65.7 million worldwide, opening second with 12.7 million and spending seventeen consecutive weeks on the DVD top fifty. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 55 percent, Metacritic at 63, and CinemaScore audiences gave it a B plus. Who it is for: viewers who like tight, time-pressured police thrillers. Who it is not for: anyone wanting surprises in the script. The villain is clear early, and the tension comes from pace rather than plot.