Movie Review: 21 Bridges (R – 99 minutes)

The gritty cop drama is a genre all to itself.  It was more popular in the 70s and 80s then it is today, but every once in a while, you get a throwback.

21 Bridges starts its story with a young Andre Davis at the funeral of his father.  His father had been a police officer and was killed in the line of duty, but not before taking two of the three criminals he was fighting with him.  Years later, Andre has become a detective and the movie opens with him, and his union reps, in a meeting with Internal Affairs.  Apparently, Andre has developed a bit of a reputation as a cop that ends up with a lot of dead criminals. He maintains that he has only ever fired when fired upon, or when in mortal danger.  IA seems skeptical, but he knows he is a good cop and doing everything by the book.

That evening, we see two criminals head to a restaurant, thinking it is a front for drug dealers and that they are going to steal 50 kilos of cocaine. For some reason, there is far more cocaine when they arrive and in addition, some cops show up, very casual-like.  The criminals get into a shootout with the cops that leads to a lot of dead cops.  They go on the run, and Andre gets called in to investigate.  The head of the local police department is very happy Andre is on the case, and strongly suggests he would be fine if Andre has to kill these particular criminals.  Partnered with a DEA agent, Frankie Burns, Andre has all the bridges into Manhattan (all 21 of them) shut down to trap the killers and begins an all-night chase to find them and figure out exactly what happened. 

I like a movie that is a quick and contained piece of story. The one-night setting benefits the pacing and urgency of this movie.  It is directed by Brian Kirk, who has done mostly TV episodes up to this point, including Luther, Game of Thrones, and Penny Dreadful.  It’s dark, gritty, and makes the city seem like a maze.  The action is interesting, and the story is fine – it’s not really anything you haven’t seen before but it is well executed. 

• Chadwick Boseman sets aside Black Panther to play Andre Davis. He does a good job of wanting to be the best cop he can, despite his slightly shady experiences.  He’s good at playing a character who is sorting through the moral gray-area.

• Sienna Miller plays Frankie Burns, and I’m not entirely clear why. I am sure there was an American actress that was available that would not have had to work as hard on the New York cop accent.  She does a good enough job as a woman who may or may not be hiding something.

• J.K. Simmons plays a very J.K. Simmons-y police Captain who is distraught at losing members of his squad and needing some closure quickly.

• Stephan James plays Michael, one of the criminals who seems to be caught up by the other and may have been redeemable at the beginning of the night.  But by the end, not so much.

• Taylor Kitsch plays Ray, the criminal who is leading this operation. He thinks he has everything under control until everything starts spiraling out of control.  He does a great job of increasing panic through the night.  Both Michael and Ray could have been very one-note, but James and Kitsch manage to give them some depth.

• Keith David plays Keith David. He’s another cop who seems to be in charge of some stuff.

• Alexander Siddig shows up briefly as Adi, a money cleaner who offers some advice to the two criminals on the run.

Overall the movie is fast-paced, interesting, and well done. It’s short and feels like a throwback to cop-dramas of the past.  A couple of the performances are a little over the top and you can see some of the plot coming before it gets there, but none of that is a deterrent.  I went in expecting nothing and was pleasantly surprised.

6 out of 10 – a perfectly serviceable gritty cop-drama.

For some reason in reminded me of Enemy of the State, which I loved.