3 Short Paragraphs: 21 Bridges

2019, Brian Kirk (lots of TV including Game of Thrones) -- download

The only thing I really knew Chadwick (why not just Chad?) Boseman from before the Marvel movies was Gods of Egypt, so yes, entirely forgettable. But since then, well... there is nothing else; he is just T'Challa and I have trouble seeing him as anything else. Especially when he speaks out loud. Not that I expect an African accent to come out of his mouth, but to hear him speak American just sounds... off. That said, he's doing his best to build a career in spite of Marvel, with a smattering of crime movies since he first appeared in Civil War; 21 Bridges is the latest.

The character is set in stone as the son of a murdered cop who grows up to be the detective with the reputation for not just pulling his sidearm, but putting the bad guys down. He believes in justice, he believes in just retribution. They play this like it will be a key point to the story, but its just a plot device for him to be used. When eight policemen are gunned down during what appears to be a botched robbery of a drug dealer, he is called in because every cop in NYC wants these criminals dead, and who better to do it. He is the blunt weapon for their blue rage.  That is, until he notices something was off about this whole deal and he needs the gunmen alive in order to unravel the mystery.

This movie is crafted in the shadow of cop movies of old, back in the time when the NYC was infamous for its corruption and dirty cops. Its not a spoiler, as the idea is pretty much written in neon from the beginning. But that's not the point, as it is about determining what the conspiracy was as opposed to foiling it. Boseman, like Taylor Kitsch and JK Simmons, get interesting characters to play, but not much use is made of them.  We get hints of where a much more interesting movie could have gone, such as making the criminals somewhat sympathetic, or the actual title of the movie, where Bosemen gets brief permission to close all access and egree points to Manhattan. But then they just rush to the conclusion of a Straight To crime flick.