Movie Review 16 Blocks

16 Blocks (2006) 

Directed by Richard Donner 

Written by Richard Wenk 

Starring Bruce Willis, Mos Def, David Morse

Release Date March 3rd, 2006 

Published March 2nd, 2006 

16 Blocks is the latest suspense-thriller from director Richard Donner, best known for the Lethal Weapon pictures. Those films are remembered more for Mel Gibson's manic performance and Donner's bombastic action scenes than for intricate or clever plotting. That makes 16 Blocks something of a surprise. Donner's attention to character details and fast-paced plotting in 16 Blocks turns what might have been another average action exercise into a compelling nail-biting suspenser.

A burned-out, drunkard cop, Jack Mosley (Bruce Willis) thinks his shift is over for the day. Heading for the door, and another bottle, Jack is stopped by his lieutenant and given one last assignment. Jack has 118 minutes to escort a prisoner, Eddie Bunker (Mos Def), 16 Blocks to the courthouse before the grand jury wraps for the day. Little does Jack know that the case the kid is testifying in is dangerous enough to get them both killed.

Bruce Willis is easily the most reliably compelling action star in film today. Even in his most rote or underwhelming vehicles like Bandits or Mercury Rising, Willis' flair and charisma are undeniable. In 16 Blocks Willis gives a character-driven performance that is becoming a trend as he transitions to elder-statesman action hero.

From his cop in Sin City to his cop in Hostage to his cop in 16 Blocks, Willis understands his niche and goes about finding unique notes for each character to play. The results have been very good thus far, with another unique character-driven performance coming this spring--a supporting role in the buzzworthy flick Alpha Dog.

Mos Def has proven himself an exceptionally-talented actor well beyond the stereotypical rapper-turned-actor. Seeking roles that most rappers-turned-actors either never seek nor pull off, Mos Def has excelled in the medical drama Something The Lord Made--for which he was nominated for an Emmy--and the effervescent Lackawanna Blues.

In 16 Blocks ,Mos Def cuts the figure of Eddie Bunker by adopting a unique, if occasionally unintelligible, patois that gives his motor-mouth character another layer of backstory for us to ponder. As the loquacious Eddie runs his mouth, Willis' cop becomes as irritated as we in the audience do, but just as he is eventually won over by Eddie's spirit and good nature, so are we.

Written by Richard Wenk, the screenplay for 16 Blocks is a cleverly-constructed action piece with two exceptional lead characters. Wenk strikes a near-perfect balance of character quirks, plot twists and big action sequences that, in retrospect, create a script that could not have been better suited for director Richard Donner, a master of the big action scene who's never had an action plot this good to back him up.

In 16 Blocks, Bruce Willis takes on the kind of role that Harrison Ford should consider. Willis, playing to  his age and capabilities, crafts a believable character. There is little ego to Willis' performance. The character is vulnerable, human, and very flawed. Where Ford cannot let go of his superman-action-hero persona, Willis defies his persona in ways that bring depth to his most recent performances. Am I saying one actor is better than the other? No, I am saying that Willis is currently making better choices than Ford and that Ford could learn a little something from watching Sin City, Hostage or 16 Blocks.

Director Richard Donner knows how to direct a crowd-pleasing action flick--he's been doing it since 1978's Superman. Three of the four Lethal Weapon movies are endlessly entertaining (the less said about the last Weapon sequel the better). Conspiracy Theory, Maverick and The Goonies are other terrific examples of Donner's crowd-pleasing abilities. What sets 16 Blocks apart from those films is the whipsmart plotting that backs up his other forte as a director--big, dumb, loud action. Keep an eye out for the bus chase scene which satisfies Donner's required major action set piece.

With Bruce Willis in the lead, 16 Blocks becomes almost infallibly entertaining. Watching Willis transition from action hero to aging character actor and yet maintain that star charisma is a real treat. His new persona solidified, we can only wonder now about his upcoming fourth Diehard film and how John McClane will fit with the new Bruce Willis. I cannot wait to see that, but even if Diehard 4 turns out to be a mistake, the new Bruce Willis should be able to recover quickly with another cheap, but efficient, thriller like 16 Blocks.

Movie Review The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) 

Directed by Garth Jennings

Written by Douglas Adams, Karey Kirkpatrick 

Starring Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel, Sam Rockwell, Alan Rickman

Release Date April 29th, 2005 

Published April 28th, 2005 

The tortured development process for the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' cult novel The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is one of those "Only in Hollywood" tales. As told in David Hughes' book "The Best Sci-Fi films Never Made," the story begins in 1982 with a series of Hollywood Producers following the money rather than any quirky well told sci-fi story. After Douglas Adams' radio series became a smash in Britain and then became a best selling book, Hollywood took notice.

Once the film was transferred to British TV and once again became a hit, Hollywood heavyweights came calling. First, Ivan Reitman wanted to make the film with Bill Murray and Harold Ramis in the cast. He abandoned the project after a year of stops and starts and budget battles, instead he took Murray and Ramis and made Ghostbusters. After that a number of big names (i.e. Bruce Willis, Michael Keaton, Jim Carrey) all floated into and out of the development process.

Poor Douglas Adams waded through bad adaptation after bad adaptation, some with his name unfortunately attached to them. Until 2001 when it looked as if the sun were finally shining on the project. Adams completed what looked like a final script and director Jay Roach, fresh from the hit Meet The Parents and with Austin Powers in his recent past, was ready to helm the project. Fate can be very cruel; Douglas Adams died of a heart attack before the film could even begin scouting locations.

Five years later with the assistance of first time director Garth Jennings and execs at Disney, The Hitchhiker's GuideTo The Galaxy finally made it to the big screen and though it is flawed and not entirely satisfying to its loyal cult audience, it is a solidly entertaining and a surprisingly welcoming sci-fi comedy.

Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) is having a bad day. His home on the outskirts of some tiny unnamed British hamlet is about to be bulldozed in favor  of a new expressway. That, however, is the least of his problems, as his good friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def) is trying to tell him. It seems Arthur's house is not the only thing on Earth about to be bulldozed.  The entire planet has been scheduled for demolition by an officious race of aliens called Vogons.

Luckily for Arthur, his buddy Ford is an interstellar hitchhiker who is able to spirit Arthur off the planet before it's destroyed. Thus begins a most extraordinary adventure that will cross the galaxy with a cast of characters not seen outside of an acid trip. After escaping the Vogons, Arthur and Ford stow away aboard the most beautiful ship in the galaxy, the heart of gold, which is currently captained by the new President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell).

Along with Zaphod is Marvin a super intelligent but constantly depressed robot (voice by Alan Rickman, character by Warwick Davis) and Trillian (Zooey Deschanel), an earth girl who has brief history with Arthur; she blew him off at a party to go into space with Zaphod just prior to the world exploding. The crew is on the run, one of Zaphod's two heads, yes I said two heads, has kidnapped the other and stolen the spaceship. They are headed across the galaxy to ask a giant computer the meaning of life.

If that is not esoteric enough for you the film is filled to the brim with other subtle bits of humor and wordplay, the best of which comes from the voice of Stephen Fry narrating from the Hitchhiker's Guide. Accompanied by colorful illustrations, the Guide often interrupts the film to deliver an interesting and helpful tidbit about this or that. Fry's eloquent British tones lend an intellectual air to the film's unusual details and the books' quirky dialogue.

By far my favorite part of the film was the opening song called, "So long and thanks for all the fish ''. Sung from the perspective of dolphins, the song tells us that dolphins had for years tried to warn humans about the impending end of the world but we mistook the warnings as cute tricks. Clever and imaginative, the song is the perfect example of the film's oddball humor.

Director Garth Jennings is one half of a commercial and video directing team called Hammer and Tongs who have directed music videos for REM and Blur. Jennings is inexperienced as a feature film director but it's likely that aided his work here rather than harmed it. Jennings directs with wild abandon, never pausing to consider what can't be done. While the story has been compromised for the sake of mainstream appeal, Jennings' direction is perfectly in sync with the books' bizarre humor.

Martin Freeman is best known for his supporting role in the original British version of Ricky Gervais' "The Office". Freeman has the perfect everyman quality that fits with Douglas Adams' conception of Arthur and, better yet, Freeman whines and complains and begs for a good cup of tea just as you would imagine Arthur from the book would. Unfortunately Freeman fails miserably in connecting with American actress Zooey Deschanel in the film's romantic subplot.

The best performance in the film is Sam Rockwell as Zaphod. Rockwell combines the manic energy of Jim Carrey with the rock star look and manner of David Lee Roth. The two heads bit is funnier than it sounds and provides a number of good gags. Mos Def is a calming influence in the sometimes manic, over the top film. His Ford Prefect is often beatific and obtuse but always supportive and helpful to Arthur. Mos Def may not be what fans of the book had in mind when they thought of Ford but he puts any misgivings away with his performance.

Naturally, with such a well known cult object as "Hitchhiker's Guide" the battle between what appeals to the cult and what can appeal to mainstream audiences is a difficult balancing act. Hollywood studios would prefer every film had the same set of easily salable elements so obviously something as quirky as Hitchhiker's Guide is not their cup of tea. The books are esoteric and dry and very British. To Americanize them and make them more mainstream some things are lost in translation and others are added, like a romance between Arthur and Trillian that is the film's weakest element.

Nothing about the romance ever feels right, likely because it was not part of the book. The whole thing feels shoehorned into the plot and because it's all so earnest it does not fit well with the oddball elements of the surrounding film. Zooey Deschanel could really do something with this part but unfortunately with the romantic element forced on her she becomes a functionary of the plot as opposed to a fully fleshed out character.

Jennings does not linger on the romance plot, though.  He is more concerned with cramming the film with exciting visuals and he succeeds more often than not. Watch out for John Malkovich as a half man, half machine in one of the picture's most striking visuals and a terrific scene in which the entire cast is turned into string. These scenes vividly bring to life some of the off-the-wall elements that made "Hitchhiker's Guide" such a cult object.

Overall Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is an imperfect but highly enjoyable sci-fi comedy. It is not exactly what fans of the book would want, but it's not a bad thing that the filmmakers opened up just enough for new fans to get it. The balance is difficult but works for the most part, enough at least for me to recommend it for your movie dollar.