(16 Blocks, Assassins, Conspiracy Theory, The Goonies, Ladyhawke, Lethal Weapon 1-4, Maverick, The Omen, Radio Flyer, Sam & George, Scrooged, Superman 1 & 2, Timeline)
Producers:
Randall Emmett, Avi Lerner, Arnold Rifkin, John Thompson and Jim Van Wyck
Screenplay:
Richard Wenk
Music:
Klaus Badelt
Cast :
Det. Jack Mosley: Bruce Willis
Eddie Bunker: Mos Def
Det. Frank Nugent: David Morse
Diane Mosley: Jenna Stern
Capt. Dan Gruber: Casey Sander
Det. Jimmy Mulvey: Cylk Cozart
Det. Robert Torres: David Zayas
Det. Jerry Shue: Robert Racki
ADA MacDonald: Brenda Pressley
In 16 Blocks,
Bruce Willis plays Detective Jack Mosley, a worn-out cop with an alcohol problem and the title comes from the fact
that he's got just 118 minutes (not in real time, before you think I've mistyped the figure above) to drive a criminal from
the lock-up to court which is a journey of 16 blocks across New York... but you know it won't be as straight-forward as that
otherwise they wouldn't have made a film about it.
All that said, Jack's been working all night and has been pulled onto this job at the last minute so just wants it over and
done with and then he can go home.
Mos Def - yes, he who was totally miscast as Ford Prefect in the movie version of
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
plays the prisoner, Eddie Bunker, and a chatty one he is at that, which only serves to drive Jack up the wall all the more.
What starts off as a simple job, soon becomes a double-crossing nightmare for a man who's really had enough of the shit that
life can throw you and there are fellow policemen, including Detective Frank Nugent (David Morse, who's always worth a
watch), who'd be only too happy to see Jack piss what's left of his career up the wall so they can get rid of him and so he's
determined to prove them wrong - and moreso than you'd realise, but there's a few moments on both sides where they each turn
up or get one over on the other that doesn't really make sense when looked at again, but in reality it's not the kind of film
you're meant to over-analyse.
The only shame is that there's not much characterisation made of any of the supporting cast, or their acting abilities
stretched, including David Zayas, as Det. Robert Torres, although Zayas is currently having his profile raised in the
excellent TV series Dexter, the first series of which is showing on ITV as I type, with series two starting on FX in July.
One random observation: There's one moment where you can hear David Morse shouting at to his captain, just over an hour in,
but someone else has overdubbed his voice, which was rather odd.
Overall, 16 Blocks makes for a great thriller on a number of levels, and is a good tale about redemption. Also, Jack Mosley
makes for what could possibly be John McClane, his classic Die Hard character, had he taken a few too many wrong turns
following his classic escapades.
The film is presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen with no problems whatsoever and with director Richard Donner framing
some great visual across the full width of the frame which couldn't be cropped and still make sense - although the Super 35
filming process may make for an easier-on-the-eye 16:9 print. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundmix also brings in some brilliant
moments where gunfire plays a part, but for the majority of the time it's the drama rather than the sound effects that takes
centre-stage.
The extras begin with Deleted Scenes (19:50), with commentary from director Richard Donner and screenwriter Richard
Wenk. Note how I didn't say 'optional commentary', because they just waffle over the top of them after an introduction.
There's no chaptering or titles to say quickly what these scenes should be from. They're also in letterbox, not
anamorphic, and with clips of the pair talking over them. This is precisely not the way to do deleted scenes, and as such
I turned off before too long.
They also rear their ugly heads for the Alternate Ending (6:37), but thankfully not the Theatrical Trailer (2:13),
which is in anamorphic widescreeen. It turns out the alternate ending here was the originally-planned ending, but while it's
good to see it for comparison, on balance I think the one they went with was the right one.
The disc contains 25 chapters which is fine for the running time, but the chapter menu is dumb in the extreme. It harks back
to the days when Warner first made DVDs in the late '90s with less selections than there should be. For example, rather than
individually selectable chapters, it starts with "1-2", then "3-4", all the way up to "23-25" for the last 3, but these just
select 1, 3 and 23, respectively... (a) skimping on doing it properly and (b) assuming that we don't know that 2 follows 1,
4 follows 3, and 24 and 25 follow 23(!)
There are subtitles in English and German, both with 'hard of hearing' versions and the main menu plays the theme music
a couple of times before starting the film. Stupidly, though, this DVD has got one of those anti-piracy ads at the start
(I've bought this DVD!) and pre-menu trailers for Poseidon and Superman Returns, but these should NOT be placed
there.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
In 16 Blocks,
Bruce Willis plays Detective Jack Mosley, a worn-out cop with an alcohol problem and the title comes from the fact
that he's got just 118 minutes (not in real time, before you think I've mistyped the figure above) to drive a criminal from
the lock-up to court which is a journey of 16 blocks across New York... but you know it won't be as straight-forward as that
otherwise they wouldn't have made a film about it.
The only shame is that there's not much characterisation made of any of the supporting cast, or their acting abilities
stretched, including David Zayas, as Det. Robert Torres, although Zayas is currently having his profile raised in the
excellent TV series Dexter, the first series of which is showing on ITV as I type, with series two starting on FX in July.
The extras begin with Deleted Scenes (19:50), with commentary from director Richard Donner and screenwriter Richard
Wenk. Note how I didn't say 'optional commentary', because they just waffle over the top of them after an introduction.
There's no chaptering or titles to say quickly what these scenes should be from. They're also in letterbox, not
anamorphic, and with clips of the pair talking over them. This is precisely not the way to do deleted scenes, and as such
I turned off before too long.