21 Bridges
It’s a long night for NYC, but not for us
by Michael Augsberger - originally published 16 Dec 2019
A grey haze sets in over the Manhattan skyline. We see it in the opening shots. Tonight will be a long night shrouded in a fog, left behind by two cop killers, that Andre Davis (Chadwick Boseman) must sift through in order to bring them to justice.
They've left eight NYPD officers dead in Brooklyn after a robbery gone sour. (Robberies always go sour for somebody, though.) Detective Davis shows up and quickly is on their tail. The suspects are hiding in midtown; the FBI wants to wrest control of the search from him if they cross state lines. So he decides to do what we're here to see—close the 21 bridges as well as the ferries and tunnels out of Manhattan and fence in the Bad Boys.
The police quickly weigh the outrage departing New Yorkers and incoming commuters will muster. "It's one AM, not one PM," Davis argues. Close 'em down. Luckily for him the last train home to Philly usually leaves at midnight; he would be spared my wrath.
Admittedly that is the film's draw—what if New York were locked down one night for a police chase? Certainly it was pitched that way and it was why the movie was made. A war-room summit is hastily held on a Brooklyn sidewalk to debate the decision. We feel the pressure they're under and admire the audacity it must take to propose it. While that is exciting, closing the bridges really functions as no more than a gimmick. In countless similar films, they don't leave the city either.
Boseman gives his detective introspection. Just as he must for the leader of Wakanda, he holds himself to a higher standard. So many past suspects have died by his shot that some call him Trigger, but he lets us see his patience. He's confident and doesn't second-guess himself. Truth, the best defense. That's doesn't mean he won't realign his deductions with new information. We see nice turns from Taylor Kitsch and more importantly Stephan James, who may be less of a Bad Boy than we first think.
I was surprised to see JK Simmons. Whiplash was my Best Picture choice because of him. The Oscar-winner isn't given much to work with as the precinct leader who lost eight of his finest. Every line is needlessly laced with f-bombs. We get it, he's a tough Irish cop. Let's just say if the screenplay's wittiest line is an awkward pun on the n-word, you have problems.
This is a promising film debut from Brian Kirk. Perhaps the highlight of his CV remains the trio of first-season Game of Thrones episodes he directed. He's summoned The Fugitive and more specifically Collateral (with the subway scene and nightlong setting), two much better chase movies that don't lean on explosions but rather interactions. Good that Kirk admires Michael Mann more than Michael Bay.
For what it aspires to be, his film succeeds, if a bit transparently. Some backstory only pads the 100-minute runtime (which as a whole is taut, never dragging). Shootouts still decide the majority of conflicts here, but Kirk at least attempts to let conversation and Davis's deduction lead the way.
And I don't recall any massive explosions. Sorry if you came looking for those.
2 1/2 of 4