21 Bridges

Chadwick Boseman. Sienna Miller, 

Stephan James, Taylor Kitsch,

J.K Simmons

"The Only way Out is Through him"

The first scene is the funeral service for a cop who died in the line of duty. His wife and son are distraught. Next scene, his son Andre Davis (Chadwick Boseman) is now a detective and is under investigation by Internal Affairs for being trigger happy against criminals. He is remorseless and maintains they were all clean shots. 

Meanwhile, two bad guys, Michael and Ray are hired to steal 30 kilos of packed cocaine from the vault of a fancy restaurant. To their surprise, they see 300 packs not just 30 kilos but before they can put it all into their bags, uniformed cops are knocking on the door. A gun fight breaks out leaving the manager of the restaurant and 8 cops dead with the criminals on the lam. 

Detective Davis arrives at the scene, along with the main brass of the NYPD, headed by Captain McKenna (J.K Simmons). They are shocked and saddened at the high number of fatalities, and are dead set on capturing their killers. Davis, together with the vice mayor decide to close all the 21 bridges in New York for the night to prevent the criminals from escaping. With the clock ticking because the lock down will be lifted at 5 A.M, Davis team up with Narcotics Detective Frankie Burns (Sienna Miller) to go on a manhunt for the cop killers. 

The criminals are always one step ahead yet as the pursuit continues into the dead of the night, Davis is getting suspicious. He is wary of the NYPD cops who also seem to show up at the crime scenes ahead of him as carnage ensues wherever Michael and Ray go. The suspects also want answers from their dealer about their discovery of the huge stash of cocaine in the restaurant.

Action filled scenes, gun fights, bloody and violent confrontations, along with slow paced scenes pack this rather mediocre crime drama. The rogue cops premise has been done more times than necessary and unfortunately "21 Bridges" fails to offer anything new. 

Chadwick Boseman as Detective Andre Davis is a far cry from his splendid performance as the Black Panther. Here, he is a sad caricature of the righteous detective trying to fight the corrupt system. Sadly, he could not rub off on his Black Panther powers to save this average movie from falling into an abyss.