An aging alcoholic cop is assigned the task of escorting a witness from police custody to a courthouse 16 blocks away. There are, however, chaotic forces at work that prevent them from making it in one piece.
When a family is held hostage, former hostage negotiator Jeff Talley arrives at the scene. Talley's own family is kidnapped and Talley must decide which is more important: saving a family he doesn't even know or saving his own family.
Director:
Florent-Emilio Siri
Stars:
Bruce Willis,
Kevin Pollak,
Serena Scott Thomas
A struggling dentist's life is turned upside down when a famous gangster moves in next door, and his wife convinces him to inform a notorious mob boss about the gangster's whereabouts.
Director:
Jonathan Lynn
Stars:
Bruce Willis,
Matthew Perry,
Rosanna Arquette
A Special-Ops commander leads his team into the Nigerian jungle in order to rescue a doctor who will only join them if they agree to save 70 refugees too.
An private detective's protected female witness is murdered, prompting him and the victim's boyfriend to investigate the crime that leads to a corrupt politician and a crooked football team owner.
Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to investigate the murders of others' surrogates.
Coming from a police family, Tom Hardy ends up fighting his uncle after the murder of his father. Tom believes the killer is another cop, and goes on the record with his allegations. Demoted then to river duty, the killer taunts Tom.
Director:
Rowdy Herrington
Stars:
Bruce Willis,
Sarah Jessica Parker,
Dennis Farina
Jimmy the Tulip's (Willis) quiet new life is shaken up by his old pal Oz (Perry), whose wife (Henstridge) has been kidnapped by a Hungarian mob. The Tulip and his wife Jill (Peet) spring into action.
Director:
Howard Deutch
Stars:
Bruce Willis,
Matthew Perry,
Natasha Henstridge
Jack Mosley, a burnt-out detective, is assigned the unenviable task of transporting a fast-talking convict from jail to a courthouse 16 blocks away. However, along the way he learns that the man is supposed to testify against Mosley's colleagues, and the entire NYPD wants him dead. Mosley must choose between loyalty to his colleagues and protecting the witness, and never has such a short distance seemed so long...Written by
Anonymous
The empty bottle Jack pulls from his desk drawer near the beginning is a bottle of Gosling's Black Seal Rum, from Bermuda. See more »
Goofs
After Eddie gets back on the bus, and Jack smashes through parked police cars down the alley, you clearly see that the tires which had previously been shot out and had come loose have returned and are fully inflated. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Jack Mosley:
[tape recording]
It's Detective Jack Mosley, Shield number 227. I guess this will be my last will and testament. This is for Diane. When this day is over, they're gonna come and talk to you about this and they're gonna... gonna tell you what happened, Diane. But what they tell you is not really what happened here. So I hope that you get this. I was trying to do a good thing.
See more »
Crazy Credits
There are no opening credits save the title "16 BLOCKS". See more »
Good Flower Round Moon
Traditional
Performed by Bich Phuong Luong
Published by Zhiming Han and Bich Phuong Luong
Courtesy of Eastwest Entertainment See more »
"16 Blocks" features an aging Bruce Willis as a broken-down, burned out NYPD detective assigned to transport the key witness in a police corruption trial from his jail cell to the courthouse where he is scheduled to testify 16 blocks away. However, something goes terribly awry when the cops who are the targets of his testimony attempt to knock off the witness, forcing Willis and his charge to run for their lives through the crowded streets and deserted back alleys of downtown Manhattan.
"16 Blocks" deserves points for at least attempting to provide a bit more in the way of characterization and theme than we are used to in run-of-the-mill police procedurals, but the film winds up falling flat despite the best of intentions and some first rate performances by Willis and Mos Def as the man whose life Willis feels compelled to protect. For even though the low-keyed approach writer Richard Wenk and director Richard Donner have taken towards the material should have made this a more believable and realistic film than most in its genre, the filmmakers keep undercutting that truth by having the two fleeing gentlemen go through so many hairbreadth escapes that we begin to think that not only are these NYPD officers corrupt but amazingly incompetent as well. Moreover, the schmaltzy, humanity-of-man ending, with its theme of mutually achieved salvation and redemption, comes across as a contrived piece of sentimental uplift that never rings true or convincing.
What's good about the movie is its occasionally witty one liners and the performances by the actors in the two lead roles. Willis, craggy-faced, gimpy and sporting a noticeable middle-age spread, is subtle and subdued in the role of a man who has grown apathetic and cynical over the years, and Mos Def makes a very compelling character out of Eddie Bunker, the criminal-with-a-heart-of-gold who never stops talking, but whose deadpan, singsong delivery endears him to the audience. The actors alone compensate for the underdeveloped script and the overall sense of ennui that permeates the film.
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"16 Blocks" features an aging Bruce Willis as a broken-down, burned out NYPD detective assigned to transport the key witness in a police corruption trial from his jail cell to the courthouse where he is scheduled to testify 16 blocks away. However, something goes terribly awry when the cops who are the targets of his testimony attempt to knock off the witness, forcing Willis and his charge to run for their lives through the crowded streets and deserted back alleys of downtown Manhattan.
"16 Blocks" deserves points for at least attempting to provide a bit more in the way of characterization and theme than we are used to in run-of-the-mill police procedurals, but the film winds up falling flat despite the best of intentions and some first rate performances by Willis and Mos Def as the man whose life Willis feels compelled to protect. For even though the low-keyed approach writer Richard Wenk and director Richard Donner have taken towards the material should have made this a more believable and realistic film than most in its genre, the filmmakers keep undercutting that truth by having the two fleeing gentlemen go through so many hairbreadth escapes that we begin to think that not only are these NYPD officers corrupt but amazingly incompetent as well. Moreover, the schmaltzy, humanity-of-man ending, with its theme of mutually achieved salvation and redemption, comes across as a contrived piece of sentimental uplift that never rings true or convincing.
What's good about the movie is its occasionally witty one liners and the performances by the actors in the two lead roles. Willis, craggy-faced, gimpy and sporting a noticeable middle-age spread, is subtle and subdued in the role of a man who has grown apathetic and cynical over the years, and Mos Def makes a very compelling character out of Eddie Bunker, the criminal-with-a-heart-of-gold who never stops talking, but whose deadpan, singsong delivery endears him to the audience. The actors alone compensate for the underdeveloped script and the overall sense of ennui that permeates the film.