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21 BRIDGES – Review by Susan Granger

Susan Granger 0 Comments , , ,
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There’s potential buried deep inside this violent crime-thriller that follows the NYPD hunting down two masked criminals who left eight police officers for dead in a drug heist gone wrong but, unfortunately, it never surfaces.

After grabbing bags of cocaine and committing those murders, Michael (Stephan James) and his older partner Ray (Taylor Kitsch), two Iraq veterans, go on the run.

“There are 21 bridges in and out of Manhattan. Shut ‘em down!” is the Mayor’s order, so that’s just what Homicide Detective Andre Davis (Chadwick Boseman) and his unit do.

With the support of his tough narcotics-agent partner Frankie Burns (Sienna Miller) and 85th Precinct Police Captain McKenna (J.K. Simmons), he’s determined to find the thugs.

When Davis was a teenager, his heroic police-officer father was killed by a junkie in the line of duty. As a result, uncompromising Davis has become so trigger-happy that Internal Affairs has opened an investigation into his behavior.

As the long night progresses, it turns out that, instead of 30 kilos of cocaine, the culprits have 300 kilos – and lots of corrupt cops are involved.

Meanwhile, the Big Apple is in chaos. Commuter trains and subways stop and tunnels are blocked as the manhunt progresses, computer-monitored by the Local Mobile Station Identity Unit. (This is all described via TV news, rather than being shown on-screen.)

Based on a generic story by Adam Mervis, it’s shallowly scripted with clichéd dialogue by Mervis and Matthew Michael Carnahan and heavy-handedly helmed by veteran TV director Brian Kirk (“Game of Thrones”), making his feature-film debut and focusing on mind-numbing gun fights and car chases.

Actor Chadwick Boseman, who proved himself in “Black Panther,” deserves better.

FYI: It was actually filmed in Philadelphia.

On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “21 Bridges” is a fast-paced, confusing 4. What a waste of time and talent!

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Susan Granger

Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at R.K.O., M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures; her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M. As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O'Brien and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, Phi Beta Kappa, with highest honors in journalism. During her adult life, Susan has been on radio and television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic. Her newspaper reviews have been syndicated around the world, and she has appeared on American Movie Classics cable television. In addition, her celebrity interviews and articles have been published in REDBOOK, PLAYBOY, FAMILY CIRCLE, COSMOPOLITAN, WORKING WOMAN and THE NEW YORK TIMES, as well as in PARIS MATCH, ELLE, HELLO, CARIBBEAN WORLD, ISLAND LIFE, MACO DESTINATIONS, NEWS LIMITED NEWSPAPERS (Australia), UK DAILY MAIL, UK SUNDAY MIRROR, DS (France), LA REPUBBLICA (Italy), BUNTE (Germany), VIP TRAVELLER (Krisworld) and many other international publications through SSG Syndicate. Susan also lectures on the "Magic and Mythology of Hollywood" and "Don't Take It Personally: Conquering Criticism and other Survival Skills," originally published on tape by Dove Audio.