Patrick Sun

I mainly saw this film due to Richard Donner directing it. What I noticed afterwards after the film was how unseen Donner's hand was in telling the story, because it's told very straight forward, but very assuredly. It's almost a 2 hour film in real time on the screen, which lent a bit of tension to the deadline set within the film.

Bruce Willis is an older, paunchier cop named Jack Mosely who gets tasked with taking a witness, Eddie (Mos Def) 16 blocks to the courthouse in about 2 hours. Eddie's testimony is very important to the case that involves cops, and this has more cops chasing down Jack and Eddie through the street of New York City because Eddie's testimony could send some cops to jail for their actions.

Overall, not your average "unlikely" buddy formula movie, and though it gets a little predictable towards the end, it's still a decent matinee, and I was surprised at the smattering of applause my audience gave to the film at its conclusion.

I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.

"I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar!"
Patcave | 2006 Films | 2007 Films | Dragon Con 2008

Mike Graham

I enjoyed the film greatly. It took advantage of the New York setting very nicely, and the acting was wonderful across the board. The action is very exciting and well done - in fact it's one of the better "old school" pre-Matrix style films I've seen in a while.

Aside from the Oscar contenders from 2005 playing now, this is easily one of the better 2006 films in theaters.

Steve Y

The last "buddy" movie I endured was "The Man", so you can imagine my lowered expectations for this one.

I was surprised by how much I ended up liking "16 Blocks". The story was straightforward and didn't end-load the script with implausible last-act revelations like so many action movies do nowadays. It's a character-driven movie with a character-driven climax.

David Morse was great, as always.

So not a profound or "great" movie, but a solid and enjoyable entry to the action genre. It's nice to see Willis enjoying an "older" role here. A few people around us in the theater seemed put off by Mos Def's characterization of Eddie (particularly the voice), but everyone was on board by the end. I ended up liking him much better in this than in "Hitchhiker's Guide".