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Review:
 Just
because something is run-of-the-mill doesn't mean that it's bad or
even mediocre. There have been many films that have been really
good that haven't been all that original. This is one of those.
Jack Mosley(Bruce Willis) is a typical burnt-out cop. He's a
drunken fool now, doing menial tasks here and there before he's
let out to pasture at retirement age a few months hence.
One of these menial tasks is to escort a felon named Eddie
Bunker(Mos Def) to a grand jury hearing. He doesn't want to do
that and Eddie is angry that he doesn't have his suit ready. He
was promised a suit!-but so what? Jack just wants to make the
mile-and-a-half journey by car, ten minutes at most, and go home.
He decides to take a detour to the local package store when all of
a sudden, some villains try to assassinate poor Eddie. Frank saves
the day, although the villain is killed and the car is wrecked. So
he grabs Eddie and absconds to the nearest bar, where he prepares
for a siege. His ex partner Frank Nugent(David Morse) with Frank's
new partners Jimmy Mulvey(Cylk Cozart CQ) and Robert Torres(David
Zayas), and explains why exactly Eddie must be killed. Jack
decides that justice must be done by the book. Guns are fired, and
the chase begins.
Now on the one hand, the idea of bad cops is one which makes for
good cinema, on the other, the idea that most of New York's finest
are in on the deal is another. But here we have Jack and Eddie
sneaking around lower Manhattan while what seems to be dozens of
cops are after them is a little much. The Climax is something
totally silly. But it actually works to some extent and one can
turn off one's brain, suspend disbelief, and have one heck of a
good time.
Eric Lurio
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