There's a fine line between old-fashioned and cliched.

Full Review | Mar 24, 2007

A happier surprise is the smart work of director Richard Donner: 16 Blocks is all jumble and jangle-crowds, snarled traffic, and discordant car horns.

| May 12, 2006

A solid, bare-knuckle action-thriller from Richard Lethal Weapon Donner that avoids most of the genre's clichs and boasts a commendably dishevelled performance from Willis, as a washed-up NYPD flatfoot dissolving in self-loathing.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 6, 2006

Willis has been playing slight variations on this role for years now, and though the films don't get better, his performances do.

| May 6, 2006

Clunky, solid, enjoyable.

| May 6, 2006

Fast-paced, tense and intermittently exciting, Donner's latest will keep genre fans engaged with its polished blend of tried and tested elements.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 6, 2006

Richard Donner still has it.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 11, 2006

Willis and Def -- funny even if he overdoes the whiny shrieking -- are a terrific team.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 9, 2006

I thought this film is one long corny clich.

Full Review | Mar 6, 2006

Hiding among all the uniforms and bullets, it turns out, is an actors' movie, and two actors more than capable of hitting their marks.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 3, 2006

Another urban action thriller that's better than some, worse than most and so forgettable that it's possible to forget it while watching it.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 3, 2006

16 Blocks is a police procedural in the change-your-life spirit of Oprah. And I say this with the deepest respect for both genres.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 3, 2006

The actors seem to have inspired the hack director Richard Donner and the cat-and-mouse game is much grittier than one would expect from the creator of the Lethal Weapon series.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 3, 2006

16 Blocks is the best of this trio [of recent crooked cop movies, including Dirty and Running Scared], thanks to the winning performances of its stars -- a restrained Bruce Willis and a very likable Mos Def.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 3, 2006

Its dialogue is sassy, its plotting is taut (maybe too taut, as key segues are AWOL), but 16 Blocks has more on the brain than mere distraction. It aims to save souls.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 3, 2006

While 16 Blocks may be two blocks and three left-hand turns too long, it's still one sturdy cop thriller, filled with grit, corruption, action and redemption and fueled by strong performances from Bruce Willis, Mos Def and David Morse.

| Original Score: B | Mar 3, 2006

The Lethal Weapon movies were all about charismatic actors breathing life into stock characters. That doesn't happen with Willis and Def.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 3, 2006

It's the clamor and weak script that make it feel like a flatfoot trying to chase down a better movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 3, 2006

In the end it's not the predictable action but the lack of chemistry and camaraderie that sinks 16 Blocks.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 3, 2006

16 Blocks feels like a remake of Clint Eastwood's The Gauntlet. The Gauntlet was exciting nonsense. 16 Blocks is just dutiful, until all the duty crowds out any fun.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 3, 2006