21 Bridges

This crime flick is fantastically stylish in every possible way, with its gloomy atmosphere of Manhattan at night, alarming police mega-dragnet with a lockdown of “the city that never sleeps”, the noirish character of an honest, straight-shooting cop, music in the spirit of old “gritty” crime movies. And standing against that, the most transparent and predictable screenplay that I can remember. Everything that is merely suspicious to the protagonist is immediately so clear to the viewers that they think that just maybe, for such stylish filmmaking, it must have been done intentionally to serve a higher purpose. But that’s not the case and, because of that, the film turns out in the end to be just a naïvely short-sighted banality. (21.02.2021)

The Black Panther’s father was beaten to death and so, now in the role of an NYPD detective, he likes to clean the streets somewhat more thoroughly than his colleagues, preferring to terminate them rather than taking them into custody. He's the perfect candidate to lead a manhunt for two eight-time cop killers who disappeared with 50 kilos of uncut cocaine. This action classic (coherent shoot-outs, high-speed chases) changes direction a little halfway through and is much more intelligent than it seemed at the start. And it just keeps on moving. The moralistic conclusion paradoxically does not present the main character as a good person, but more of a perfectly functioning machine for imposing a new order on the modern world. (24.02.2020)

A great, snack-sized genre piece for immediate consumption. The gunfights are as brutal as they should be and the atmosphere of Manhattan at night lends the film a welcome touch of noir. What helps is that the plot plays out within the space of a few city blocks and a few hours, so there is no time for unnecessary detours or expository talk – the film gets right down to business and never relents. Some will find the comparison exaggerated, but I found the unapologetic, fast-paced way in which the two villains are hunted down reminiscent of the second and third installments of the Bourne series. (08.04.2020)

I wasn't expecting much from 21 Bridges, but in the end it was a pleasant surprise that goes in the style of 90's cop corruption crime thrillers, where Black Panther excels. The story focuses on two thieves who go to steal 30 kilos of cocaine, but they find 300 kilos and are unexpectedly interrupted by a police unit and end up in a brutal shootout with eight dead policemen. Detective Chadwick Boseman arrives on the scene and orders a lockdown of Manhattan and has five hours to catch the cop killers. The film is very intense from start to finish, never slackens in pace and hurtles forward like a bullet train train. It has a great soundtrack, solid action and a good dose of suspense that brings an interesting conclusion. Not many films like this are made nowadays, it's more a thing of the last decade, so I enjoyed it in the cinema. 8/10. (26.11.2019)

An enjoyable crime drama with very decent action, an excellent real-time chase of armed robbers and a devilishly decent role fr Taylor Kitsch, who should play only bad guys from now on and totally forget about being the hero. The ending it’s a bit too much, but Simmons is a good enough actor to keep it within acceptable limits. As a low-budget and dynamic alternative to Bourne, it’s fine. (22.07.2020)