16 Blocks and more words from Mos Def than you'll ever hear EVER
This was an unexpected surprise. Aside from never hearing a thing about it (direct to DVD? A shame.), this should've been a box office thriller - more so than some of the other crap I've seen recently. Bruce Willis teams up with Mos Def in a twist on the buddy-in-a-bind genre.
Firstly, they're not buddies - Willis is a washed-up cop with short time, a torn up knee and a bottle in his desk. Mos Def is a witness Willis is charged to get to the federal courthouse to testify in a "very important case", can you hear the capital letters. The problem - of course, someone doesn't want Def to get to his date with the DA. Compounded by the fact that Willis can barely stand up without a couple of jiggers of Crown Royale more in him. Multiply this by the fact that the people who don't want Def to get to the courthouse are cops. Specifically, buddies of Willis'. Turns out Def has information that these cops are corrupt and took money and did some bad things.
But for some reason, Willis decides today is gonna be the day that he plays hero and gets this witness just 16 blocks to the courthouse. With no car. And not really any ammo. And all the ways blocked off. And every cop in the city persuaded that Willis is the one gone rogue on one of "their own", so tensions are high to find him, "no mattah what," in the NYC vernacular.
After a couple of really innovative scenes on how to get them mere blocks closer within the specified time frame - oh, yes; there is a 10:00 am deadline for the courtroom, Willis makes a move I didn't see coming. He turns to Def and tells him to get out of there and he, Willis, will go to the courtroom. The presumption is that he will draw the fire and allow Mos Def to live and get away, but the case would fall apart. And then he confesses that, no; he was one of those bad cops that Def was gonna testify about, and he could give the same evidence, so the case could still go on. (Screen silence.) (Didn't see that apple cart.)
Def races off and Willis continues on to the courthouse, and a really intense scene plays out between former partners and friends and now enemies in a who-will-live who-will-die standoff. The ending of this standoff is so righteous you just wanna scream "YEAH!" but Mr. No Couch Bouncing doesn't like the yelling, but who really cares, it was that solid.
I didn't think Mos Def had it in him to be as verbose as this role had him play it; he literally had to cover almost every second of silence and action with a non-stop running verbal faucet, and although Def is a mightily accomplished poet and rapper, this had to be really challenging. Completely changed the way I viewed his acting chops. Willis has got to get out of the " cop with a..." milieu, but, doggone it, it does seem to work for him. Gotta be the smirk.
Anyway, maybe you never heard of it, but I can't stop raving about this one. Who would've thought just 16 blocks could take 2 hours, but hey, it is NYC. Kidding. Grab this one - with both hands. Triple Diet Coke (and popcorn, if you're allowed).
Firstly, they're not buddies - Willis is a washed-up cop with short time, a torn up knee and a bottle in his desk. Mos Def is a witness Willis is charged to get to the federal courthouse to testify in a "very important case", can you hear the capital letters. The problem - of course, someone doesn't want Def to get to his date with the DA. Compounded by the fact that Willis can barely stand up without a couple of jiggers of Crown Royale more in him. Multiply this by the fact that the people who don't want Def to get to the courthouse are cops. Specifically, buddies of Willis'. Turns out Def has information that these cops are corrupt and took money and did some bad things.
But for some reason, Willis decides today is gonna be the day that he plays hero and gets this witness just 16 blocks to the courthouse. With no car. And not really any ammo. And all the ways blocked off. And every cop in the city persuaded that Willis is the one gone rogue on one of "their own", so tensions are high to find him, "no mattah what," in the NYC vernacular.
After a couple of really innovative scenes on how to get them mere blocks closer within the specified time frame - oh, yes; there is a 10:00 am deadline for the courtroom, Willis makes a move I didn't see coming. He turns to Def and tells him to get out of there and he, Willis, will go to the courtroom. The presumption is that he will draw the fire and allow Mos Def to live and get away, but the case would fall apart. And then he confesses that, no; he was one of those bad cops that Def was gonna testify about, and he could give the same evidence, so the case could still go on. (Screen silence.) (Didn't see that apple cart.)
Def races off and Willis continues on to the courthouse, and a really intense scene plays out between former partners and friends and now enemies in a who-will-live who-will-die standoff. The ending of this standoff is so righteous you just wanna scream "YEAH!" but Mr. No Couch Bouncing doesn't like the yelling, but who really cares, it was that solid.
I didn't think Mos Def had it in him to be as verbose as this role had him play it; he literally had to cover almost every second of silence and action with a non-stop running verbal faucet, and although Def is a mightily accomplished poet and rapper, this had to be really challenging. Completely changed the way I viewed his acting chops. Willis has got to get out of the " cop with a..." milieu, but, doggone it, it does seem to work for him. Gotta be the smirk.
Anyway, maybe you never heard of it, but I can't stop raving about this one. Who would've thought just 16 blocks could take 2 hours, but hey, it is NYC. Kidding. Grab this one - with both hands. Triple Diet Coke (and popcorn, if you're allowed).
The way Mos Def talked made the movie unwatchable.
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But it was the way he talked that created the character. Mos Def is a definite personality of his own. He needed to do something in order to separate himself from the street poet/rapper/persona that he is, and he definitely did it - give it another try, and see it for the scared con who is running for his very life who has plans, who wants to live, who wants nothing more to make cakes to make little girls happy on their birthdays.
I thought it an amazing transformation, and worthy of note.
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Hey - nice blog, just looking around some blogs, seems a pretty nice platform you are using. I'm currently using Wordpress for a few of my sites but looking to change one of them over to a platform similar to yours as a trial run. Anything in particular you would recommend about it?
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Excellent article!
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Yes, I do have to admit, when Mr. Non-Couch-bouncey (which is fixed, by the way, by the purchase of two, very plush, deep, hand-made hand-treated leather chairs and hand pillows, a bunch of blankets, and a matching footstool to go into the 110' screening room!!!! Unfortunately, since I broke my foot in November of 2010, I haven't been able to go down the stairs to the Screening Room, so I am back in the couch with the 60' flat-screen, but at least he brought me my foot-stool and some pillows and blankets. This foot thing SUCKS donkey balls.) where was I?
Oh, Mr Non-Couch Bouncey brought me this movie with..oh, Bruce Willis and, gee, guess what, he's playing a washed-up, beat-up old cop who just doesn't care anymore but he's got this one last thing he's gotta do before he can clock out and be done forever. Sounds kinda like every other Bruce Willis movie ever made in the history of Bruce Willis and Bruce Willis' hair. I was not thrilled when it was put into the Blu-Ray. Half an hour later, I'm getting pissed when Mr Non-Couch Bouncy is pressing pause to get a fresh Diet Coke and take a bathroom break. An hour later, I'm threatening Mr. Non-Couch-Bouncey that if he touches that remote, he will be missing digits.
By the time the ending is wrapping up, I'm in love with Mos Def all over again (loved him for his Def Poetry Jams on HBO) but the actual acting he did in this movie waws seriously overlooked by the audiences, the acting community, the casting community, - hell, everyone. He deserved an award for that. Extra-ordinary performance, stand-out performance, revelation in performance works.
Kudos, Mos def. Sorry I doubted your chops, brother.
Oh, Bruce was really good too - better than I've seen him in a long time. He didn't phone this one in at all!
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And I liked ...
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Excellent article!
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Excellent article!
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I can't wait for more intereesting posts!
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Time is the school in which we learn, time is the fire in which we burn.
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I really liked it. GG!
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Do not quite understand, do you transfer your texts
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If you're asking if I transfer my texts from Word or some other processing program to this page, no. I compose here and publish here. Interesting question, though - why?
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