THE REEL: 21 Bridges

Chadwick Boseman stars alongside Siena Miller in '21 Bridges'. PHOTO| AFP

What you need to know:

  • After just coming off of a hearing with Internal Affairs, concerning his shooting pattern, Detective Andre is called in for a homicide case where eight police officers have just been killed in Manhattan late in the night.
  • He is partnered with narcotics officer Frankie Burns (Sienna Miller), when it is discovered that drugs were on the property where the officers were shot.
  • And all they know for sure is that there were two perpetrators involved.

Chadwick Boseman is back and, again, on another Russo brothers’ production.

Playing Andre Davis, a broody and totally-zoned-on-the-matter-at-hand police detective, Boseman’s character has found himself in the midst of a case that involves the murder of numerous New York cops.

After just coming off of a hearing with Internal Affairs, concerning his shooting pattern, Detective Andre is called in for a homicide case where eight police officers have just been killed in Manhattan late in the night.

He is partnered with narcotics officer Frankie Burns (Sienna Miller), when it is discovered that drugs were on the property where the officers were shot. And all they know for sure is that there were two perpetrators involved.

CHASE IS ON

Realising that they only have a few hours to act and keep the murderers from getting away from the island, making the search for them much harder, the detective makes a request to have Manhattan shut down and basically placed under martial law.

The movie goes on a fast pace, as the chase is on for unknown suspects before dawn sets in.

The cinematography in this movie is very amazing: the night shots of the Hudson, East and Harlem rivers and the bridges as they get shut off, together with the tunnels and subways was too cool.

The storytelling, although in some way predictable, is still gripping. The action shots, including one where Chadwick slides underneath a falling dish rack tower, puts you right in the thick of things.

With a runtime of 99 minutes, the story isn’t slow by any measure, which made the film more enjoyable; considering that you could have probably seen the film’s progression halfway into it.

Just for good measure, they brought in some good actors who sell it also: J.K. Simmons as Captain McKenna, Morocco Omari as Deputy Mayor Mott, Keith David as Deputy Chief Spencer, Alexander Siddig as Adi, and Taylor Kitsch as Ray.

After his role as King T’Challa in the movie Black Panther, I have never wrapped my head around watching him in depictions where he goes back to the American accent.

But in all the previous movies, in my opinion, he did not have a character that was so similar in mannerisms to the Black Panther as he does in this one.

If you have time to kill and you just want to watch something that wouldn’t look to ask too much of your mind but also isn’t a bore, this movie is definitely one to watch.