21 Bridges Delivers Passable Entertainment Though Often Feels Like A Missed Opportunity

      

      When it comes to popular film genres in Hollywood, the genre of action cop thrillers fall into the category of being one that feels both understated and quiet with today's realm of filmmaking. What this genre does well from past efforts, is striking the right balance in terms of showing the ongoing battle of good vs evil with the fight being both on the streets as well as within the main characters own precinct. Some solid examples of movies similar in both storyline and themes to 21 Bridges are Training Day, Dark Blue, and Cop Land with the whole story arc involving cover ups and corruption within the police department. Produced by the Russo Brothers who helmed Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, 21 Bridges places Black Panther's Chadwick Boseman in the main title role along with Sienna Miller, J.K Simmons, and Keith David in supporting roles. Borrowing many of the key subplots and themes of other famous cop thrillers, 21 Bridges aims to create a suspenseful and fast-paced adrenaline fueled experience for audiences with a strong main cast backing up its story. As well as the films intentions are in regards to entertaining it's target audience, the movie can't help but give audiences a been there and done that feel to it as the film ultimately feels rushed, generic, and underdeveloped in regards to both story and characters with the end result serving as being passable entertainment at best. The failure of 21 Bridges to present audiences with something fresh and complex is largely disappointing given the strength of the films main star in the lead.

      The plot for 21 Bridges centers around a hard-core detective named Andre Davis (Played by Chadwick Boseman), joining a tense manhunt for two cop killers over the course of one night in New York City. Determined to catch the murderers by dawn, he manages to convince authorities to close down all of Manhattan's 21 Bridges in order to prevent the killers from feeling the city. While pursuing them, he uncovers a major conspiracy that uncovers not only criminals but corruption within his own police department. On paper, the plot for 21 Bridges sounds thrilling and carries with it the potential to be something truly engrossing for audiences. For Boseman, it serves as being the perfect starring vehicle for him to stretch his appeal as a charismatic action star outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a character he could build off if given the proper script. 21 Bridges comes across as being a film that had all the right elements behind it, but somehow ends up missing the mark of being a great cop thriller and settles for being just competent enough to be considered passable. This is a film that doesn't feel fully arresting with its story nor showcases the full power of it's themes and messages, which is a shame given the cast that backs it. The film abandons many of its key themes and settles for intense action sequences, that are well-staged but leave little room for elaboration on the characters as well as expansion of certain plot points. 21 Bridges is not a terrible film but it's certainly not the exciting and powerful cop drama that it could've been had more time and effort went into the script along with the film not feeling so anxious to fly through its story, which ultimately wastes the talented cast of actors and actresses that carry it to the level of being mildly entertaining.

      With films like 21 Bridges, much dependence is directed at the films cast in bringing both the characters as well as the intensity of the story to life. The cast presented here is strong with actors who can take the roles given to them, regardless of how small they are, and make them effective in regards to making the story more thrilling. With the cast of 21 Bridges, they do their absolute best to make the most of their roles with minimal character development given to them. The films strongest performances comes from Chadwick Boseman in the main role as NYPD detective Andrew Davis, a successful law enforcer who earned a reputation for hunting down and killing those labeled as "cop-killers". Boseman delivers a strong performance as a young detective struggling with bearing the legacy of his father (Another NYPD detective killed during the line of duty). He approaches the role with the right balance of confidence and emotion with his performance never feeling forced nor unrealistic. He manages to generate a reasonable amount of sympathy with his character being brought in to clean up a situation, that uncovers corruption at the highest levels of the precinct surrounding him. Sienna Miller holds her own with playing Davis's partner and Narcotics detective Frankie Burns. Miller's character comes across as being the generic sidekick/partner in a typical cop thriller with her mentioning to Davis that she has a daughter and wants to return home safely upon finishing their case. There isn't much to her character that screams out anything groundbreaking in terms of development with her character often coming across as being formulaic, but Miller makes the most of her part and plays it as good as the script allows her to be. Taylor Kitsch and Stephan James both deliver notable performances as the runaway thieves/cop killers Ray Jackson and Michael Trujillo with James character having the more complex role of the two as his character struggles with comprehending the reality of the situation with Kitsch being the more brutal of the pair. Both actors do well with demonstrating their loyalty to one another regarding their situation with Michael being the more sympathetic figure of the two, and Ray committing the more reprehensible acts despite garnering awkward sympathy from the audience given his loyalty and desire to protect his friend. The rest of the supporting cast deliver strong performances even though their roles feel smaller compared to the rest with J.K Simmons giving a solid performance as the angry and firm Captain McKenna, who shows enthusiasm for Davis involvement in the case as it'll result in the capturing of the two criminals and Keith David in an underused performance as Deputy Chief Spencer. As a whole, the cast for 21 Bridges is appealing and help to lend both believability and tension to the story. None of the performances here are bad but one ultimately wishes that the script was more character driven with its strong storyline, rather than relying on action to satisfy audiences as the strong cast proves enough to hold their interest had they'd been given the opportunity.

      As far as the films directing goes, Brian Kirk does a reasonably serviceable job of keeping a steady hand in helming the films story along with staging solid action and chase sequences, though he's clearly no Michael Mann or Antoine Fuquoa when it comes to handling both the grittiness and drama of a traditional American cop thriller. While Kirk succeeds in maintaining the manhunt structure of the film in regards to keeping the pacing relentless, he misses out on key opportunities to give quiet beat moments to the main characters that would've elevated the film above being just average. What made classic cop thrillers such as Cop Land, Training Day, and Michael Mann's Heat work so well is how well-balanced they were in regards to fleshing out their main characters and sprinkling the action throughout the story, while maintaining a steady pace that always kept the story moving. While 21 Bridges keeps things moving at a rapid pace for it's audience to remain engaged, it ultimately robs the film of its quiet moments that would've done a great deal to explore much of the films themes and motivations with the characters. In terms of cinematography and the films score, the movie is well-shot with New York's night lights adding to the visual grittiness of the story with Henry Jackman and Alex Belcher's score being effective in regards to adding to the suspense, tension, and moments of emotion the film possesses. Given that he's a veteran television director, Kirk delivers reasonable work here as he's able to craft shootouts, foot and car chases that are both effective and exciting enough to make them work. While he succeeds at delivering a film that serves as being passable entertainment, the end result falls far below the potential it could've had if both the writers and Kirk had the patience to slow the film down to build the characters and story up to their suspenseful climax, which would've been way more powerful and shocking had the film had those quiet yet pivotal character beats. The work that Kirk delivers with the film isn't bad, its just nothing in particular that stands out in regards to writing home about.

      The biggest letdown with the film is the screenplay written by Adam Mervis (who also wrote the story) and Matthew Michael Carnahan. The one that the film carries is not original by any means and often comes across as feeling very formulaic with it ultimately latching onto every cliche and major plot twist in a typical cop thriller. The script works within the realm of being an average action thriller, but largely misses the opportunity to make a statement with its storyline. The film utilizes themes regarding police corruption, drug rings, honor, trust, standing by one's convictions, betrayal, and justice. While the script carries those themes, they feel barely touched upon as the film doesn't feel as if it takes a stance on any of the issues presented. The ultimate message the film delivers says that cynical police officers can become corrupt when they feel overworked or disrespected by the police they're enlisted to protect. The script for 21 Bridges misses a huge opportunity to make a statement on relevant issues such as police corruption or cover-ups within the department. The film feels as if its so preoccupied with giving audiences a simple thrill ride, that it ultimately sacrifices both its voice and message for the sake of forgettable entertainment. The films constant narrative shift between the main detectives trying to track down the criminals along with the latter trying to make their escape from New York, doesn't do much in terms of helping the films structure remain steady with it often becoming confusing to follow at times. The audience doesn't know exactly what the film stands for nor what the actors and writer/director saw in it to have a sense of urgency to get it made. The films character development also feels light with the audience never connecting with the two criminals on the run nor fully understanding Davis characters struggle with wanting to fulfill his fathers legacy, but despises being known as the one who takes out those referred to as "cop-killers". The audience is given this reference but never gets the chance to witness the main characters struggle with it, nor get to see Frankie's daughter for the audience to care about her characters dynamic. As talented as J.K Simmons and Keith David's characters are, their roles are often treated as afterthoughts with both men being underused with no other purpose than to serve the plot as their characters lack depth for the most part. The audience is also confused as to why the police prefer on closing all 21 bridges rather than check pointing them to see if the wanted criminals were sneaking by, or still remaining in the city. Then again, one immediately realizes that if the police did the latter then the film would lose much of its suspense. The character of Davis begins his arc with having much potential as presented with the films opening by showing his father murdered with him at his funeral listening to the words said about him by the eulogist. Such a powerful start does a great deal with setting up Boseman's character only to have his character underwhelm in a sense by the end of the film as his character arc never lives up to the promise of the films opening sequence. The script for 21 Bridges is not a bad effort but ultimately feels half completed as the story is missing key character and plot moments, that could've made it far more effective than being just an average cop thriller. The film often feels that its so hard-pressed and preoccupied with getting its narrative completed within its chosen running time, that it doesn't leave much room for expansion of the plot or a thoughtful message that speaks to audiences. (Had the filmmakers seen what would happen months after the films release with the recent controversy regarding police, one wonders if they would've been so eager to rush the story structure of the film or instead had taken the opportunity to make a statement regarding morality and police corruption through the actions of Davis character).

      In the end, most audiences will come to find 21 Bridges as being a missed opportunity to do something interesting with it's concept had the filmmakers believed in the film enough to take the extra steps in regards to expanding on both it's characters and plot. What could've been a film with a powerful statement regarding one man standing up to police corruption along with reaffirming what wearing the badge entails, ultimately settles for being decent yet forgettable entertainment. In a time where much of the films themes resonate with audiences today, the filmmakers missed a golden opportunity to give them something that could've ended up being a thought-provoking piece of work rather than a formulaic action thriller, that barely possesses a pulse. For such a talented cast and a promising lead actor like Chadwick Boseman, one gets the sense that they deserved far better than the material they were given along with the audience getting a similar feeling. One never gets the opportunity to see Boseman's character come to terms with the fact that he's branded as an executioner nor him beginning to question whether his actions in the past were justified, or an addition to the long list of wrongdoing committed by both him and the corrupt precinct he later exposed through tracking down the two criminals (Both of whom the audience never grow to care about enough for the film to justify a substantial portion of the plot focusing on them). 21 Bridges is a film whose concept looks fantastic on paper, but ultimately leaves much to be desired with the films overall end product. It serves as being competent enough of an action thriller, but misses out on thoroughly exploring the themes and messages the film teased throughout it's brisk 100 minute running time.

Final Verdict: For those looking for a solid action police thriller, 21 Bridges proves to be passable entertainment but ultimately leaves much to be desired in regards to both steady and powerful storytelling.