16 Blocks

16 Blocks is an effective thriller starring Bruce Willis as the washed-up New York cop Jack Mosley, who leads a sorry existence with booze as his only comfort. Mosley is given a routine assignment: he has to transport a witness the 16 blocks from the police station to the courthouse, where the testimony is to be given. The witness, Eddie Bunker, is a petty criminal, a young black man who talks the hind legs off a donkey. With him in handcuffs, Mosley sets out into the busy streets of New York, which he knows inside out. He has two hours for the job, and it ought to be a piece of cake, but naturally that is not how it goes.

Suddenly the two are under fire, and that is only the beginning of an intense chase through the city's streets. For Eddie is not just any witness: his testimony can bring down several police officers and their superiors. Mosley is in fact one of those who could land in hot water, because he has used dirty methods. Unlike his long-time colleague Frank Nugent, who leads the pursuers, however, he has a remnant of a sense of justice left. He will not willingly hand Eddie over to certain death, but the choice also means that his own chances of survival are pretty slim.

16 Blocks is an action drama strictly by the book, but with the clear message that it is never too late to change course and change for the better, not even for petty habitual criminals like Eddie or disillusioned and morally threadbare men like Mosley.