21 Bridges is a 2019 crime film directed by Brian Kirk (Game of Thrones, Penny Dreadful, Dexter, Boardwalk Empire, & My Boy Jack). It was originally titled 17 Bridges plus it was re-titled in Italy as The City of Crime & Manhattan without Escape in Spain. It was written by Adam Mervis (The Philly Kid & The Last Days of Capitalism) & Matthew Michael Carnahan (Dark Waters, Deepwater Horizon, World War Z, State of Play, & The Kingdom). It was produced by the Russo brothers (Captain America franchise, Avengers franchise, Happy Endings, & Commuinity) & Adam Fogelson (Hardcore Henry, Peppermint, Mile 22, & Den of Thieves). The budget was $33 million & it grossed $49.4 million worldwide at the box office.
A young Andre Davis attends the funeral of his father, who was a police officer murdered during one of his shifts. Years later, Davis (played by: Chadwick Boseman from Black Panther, Avengers franchise, 42, & Get on Up) becomes a successful law enforcer working for the NYPD. Struggling with the legacy of his father, Davis has earned a reputation for hunting down & killing “cop killers”. One night, two small-time criminals plus former war veterans Michael Trujillo (played by: Taylor Kitsch from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Waco, American Assassin, & True Detective) & Ray Jackson (played by: Stephan James from Lost After Dark, Race, If Beale Street Could Talk, & Selma) take a job to ransack a winery to steal several kilograms of cocaine. The heist goes terribly wrong when they realize there is more cocaine than they were expecting & police officers casually arrive at the location right away. They are forced into a shootout where Ray guns down the officers. Michael chastises Ray for putting them in jeopardy due to the officers’ deaths. Davis is assigned to the case by Deputy Chief Spencer (played by: Keith David from They Live, There’s Something About Mary, The Thing, & Platoon). Narcotics detective Frankie Burns (played by: Sienna Miller from G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Layer Cake, American Sniper, & American Woman) is assigned as Davis’ partner.
They come into conflict with FBI agents Butchco & Dugan over the case. Captain McKenna (played by: J.K. Simmons from Oz, Spider-Man franchise, Whiplash, & Justice League) agrees to have Manhattan locked down for a few hours. Now on the run, Ray & Michael coerce their liaison Bush (played by: Louis Cancelmi from Boardwalk Empire, Billions, & The Irishman), to persuade their handler to give them a bigger cut in exchange for their identities changed for their escape. They are given more money & their fixer Adi (played by: Alexander Siddig from Gotham, Peaky Blinders, Game of Thrones, & Star Trek franchise) gives them new identities plus tells them to depart for Miami the next morning. Davis & Burns manage to identify them during their investigation. Bush is gunned down by Butchco (played by: Obi Abili from London Fields) & Dugan (played by: Andy Truschinski from Conundrum!). Davis feels more suspicious when a police force led by Lieutenant Kelly (played by: Darren Lipari from Julia) quickly manages to locate Adi’s apartment before anyone else. The criminals are given flash drives that could expose some powerful & respectful people. They are tracked down by Davis & Burns. Who are really the criminals here? No one can be trusted at this point. This case turns into something completely different. Who will survive this street war????
21 Bridges is a gritty cop thriller that takes place in New York. This one has a great script & concept. A known trigger happy detective only has a few hours to solve a crime while the city is locked up. Andre Davis lost his father in the line of duty so he takes cop killing very personal & he has tracked down several criminals that have killed his co-works over the years, A drug pick up goes terribly wrong & a chain of events is set in motion for this rough night. Chadwick Boseman is an upcoming actor to look out for, I’ve never seen him deliver a bad performance so far. He’s much more than a superhero, he carried 21 Bridges. Eye candy Sienna Miller has really improved when it comes to acting & she has doing some real serious roles lately, she was really good here. The villains were more than just your typical bad guys in this. They were war veterans that were just trying to survive the world & they had no intentions of killing anyone but something isn’t right here. Both Taylor Kitsch & Stephan James held their own in 21 Bridges. The supporting cast that included J.K. Simmons, Keith David, & Alexander Siddig boosted the overall quality of the production. The story really keeps you on your toes, you don’t know who’s telling the truth here until the very end. It’s a nice hybrid of the cop, crime, & suspense/thriller sub-genres. It’s loaded with action & violence, I am surprised it went under the radar like it did. It didn’t last in theaters long & no one was really talking about it. It was very entertaining, I hope it gets more attention on home video because it deserves it. RECOMMENDED!!!!
Let’s talk about the high definition presentation & special features from Universal! This 1080p (2.39:1) transfer looks stunning, it really captures New York. They go all over the place for this, so it features all kinds of locations. The English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track sounds great. The dialogue is crystal clear, all the action has a killer boost to it, & the music is elevated here. It has English SDH & Spanish subtitles. “Audio Commentary” with director Brian Kirk & editor Tim Murrell. They cover all the basics here which includes the story, cast, & their experience on the production. It has plenty of information about the film & they have fun talking about it on here. It has almost 3 minutes of “Deleted Scenes” which includes “You’re Going to Need Some Muscle”, “Iggy Peck”, & “Black Car with Damage”. I can see why these were cut out of the final version but it’s still a cool extra to have & it’s worth checking out. It has 3 different “Trailers” for 21 Bridges. It also has a slipcover, a digital copy, & a DVD copy of the release. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!
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