16 BLOCKS Film Review - 17/9/06

Well I had been toying with getting around to seeing this film and knew it was soon to be released on both Region 1 (USA) and Region 2 (UK) DVD. Still hadn't seen it and was away for the weekend in London staying at the Sheraton Hotel at Heathrow. My own DVD player had just died and I'd emailed Mr. Periwinkle about us getting together and sorting out a replacement for further DVD viewage; especially as all the best discs come out early on Region 1 most of the time, and a multi-region DVD player is a must!
I had a couple of hours to kill and found that the Pay-Per-View Movie Channel at the hotel had "16 Blocks" under it's new releases so keyed in the code and sat back to watch. Wow - Was Bruce Willis doing some method acting here - Playing an old, stubbled chin, fat,wheezy and at the end of his tether cop with a serious alcohol problem. Beside him we had Mos Def as a witness to a crime which he underplayed to the extent that I wanted to slap him round the face several times he was so irritating! David Morse did his villain by numbers routine and Richard Donner directed rather slap-handed in this fairly slow movie.
The premise is great - Cops try to off villain before he gets to court and testifies against them. Willis is the cop having to take Mos Def 16 blocks in a 118 minutes before the Jury retires for the day and then it all goes pear-shaped it all ended up a bit too much kitchen sink drama and not enough action. Really only one for a wet Sunday afternoon or if your in a hotel room with a few hours to spare.