21 Bridges-The Movie

I knew nothing about this movie until my sister; Susan told me 21 Bridges has the potential to be a good movie. She told me that she has plans to watch it; we were pleasantly surprised that the movie opened in Jamaica before it did in New York. It is safe to say that 21 Bridges is another cop movie. However, it’s more than that. It is a fast paced American action thriller set primarily in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Having visited New York I could readily identify with a few landmarks such as Grand Central Station, 42^nd Street and the subway system. If you have ever visited New York you too will make some connections to some of landmarks in the Big Apple. The movie 21 Bridges explores various themes. The most readily are those of law and order, politics, corruption, greed, ethics, homicide, deception all pinned in a highly charged emotional environment of the New York Police Department (NYPD).  Boseman’s character, Andre Davis is the son of police who was murdered in the line of duty. Andre was about 12 or 13 at the time of the murder of his dad.  His dad was given all the respect and ceremony befitting a fallen NYPD officer. The movie is fast paced and within minutes of the funeral of Andre’s dad the screen writers had Andre all grown up as a NYPD officer.  Just like his dad Andre’s reputation was well known across all divisions of the police force. Like all cop movies it’s a given that you will have thugs or gangsters and 21 Bridges did not disappoint. The gangsters in the movie were played by Stephan James who played Michael and Taylor Kitsch who played Ray. Both guys were set up to rob some cocaine; however, after entering the place where the cocaine was being stored they realized it was far move cocaine than they were led to believe. The script is believable in many accounts, however, there was once scene in which Andre was chasing Michael and both were hit by a bus and both just continued the chase and being chased. On the night of the cocaine robbery all that could have gone wrong did. It so happened that while the robbery was in progress a number of NYPD officers came to the same establishment to check. Interestingly many of these officers were corrupt cops and it’s rather ironic and these officers of the 85^th precinct did business with the same drug dealer. You guess right, a gun battle ensued during which the first four NYPD officers were murdered by the thugs; the owner of the establishment was also killed. A few other officers who responded to their colleagues were also killed. The blood bath saw all the big wigs of the NYPD converge on the scene including the commissioner. Outrage and revenge were the overarching sentiments as the investigations started to find the cop killers. Andre was called to scene and among one of murdered officers was an officer who went to the police academy with him.  Andre took the killings personal and the entire NYPD closed ranks, or so we were led to believe.  This was around the same time the character Frankie Burns was introduced to the viewers as the police commissioner teamed Andre with Burns.  At the go Manhattan went on lock down as all 21 Bridges in and out of the island were closed, so too all tunnels and entry and exit points. The entire borough was flooded with NYPD officers as the search for the cop killers started in earnest. An early breakthrough came when the police captured imagery of two men running a right stop light. The NYPD was able to track the person who the vehicle was registered. Under coercion from Andre she gave some useful information which led to the identification of the cop killers. The movie is clearly not for children given the intense level of violence and curse words. At times one gets the feeling there is overkill by the thugs. In an bid to escape the police the gangster duo went to a well known drug dealer and tried to negotiate. They were sent to a third party in the underworld who was going to launder the money of course for a fee before sending them to Miami from which they get new passports and identity. Their final destination would be Nassau in The Bahamas.  It was while Ray and Michael were at the home of the third party the police officers came and shot and injured Adi. After Adi was shot all hell broke loose again as another intense shooting began with corrupt NYPD officers and Michael and Ray.  It was during the exchange that Adi told Michael about a thumb drive he had with critical information, I suspect it was some sort of insurance since the names on it were all police officers of the 85^th precinct. The thump drive had the amount of money each officer received as kickback or hush money to look the other way. At the end a brave Andre confronts the police commissioner at his home. The confrontation at the commissioner’s house was emotional intense which included a confession of sort. When the commissioner Captain McKenna realized Andre was not buying his pity story he shamelessly appealed to him to look the other way. Andre was brought up the old fashion way of strong moral and ethical values by his mother and father and would have clearly have  none of that. Boseman’s character is a testimony to all the good cops not only in the NYPD but across the world. The movie had all the elements of a good movie. I thought the screen writers were a bit lazy in some aspects, one of which was the timing in which Officer Burns was revealed as part of the corruption in the NYPD.  It’s good to see Boseman being cast in another role. His character for the most part was believable and engaging with the audience. Boseman has a lot of potential and we expect to hear great things from him in the near future. It good to see nontraditional acting roles opening for African American actors, especially for one as talented as Boseman. If you are a follower of cop movies I strongly recommend you see 21 Bridges. If you are into action and bloodletting movies, this movie is for you, perhaps with some popcorn and a hotdog. If you are always in the corner of the good guy then take along a friend or go it alone and see 21 Bridges. The movie is just under 2 hours and is definitively worth your effort.  You were correct Sis, it is a worthwhile movie. See you at the movies. 

Wayne Campbell is an educator and social commentator with an interest in development policies as they affect culture and or gender issues.

waykam@yahoo.com
@WayneCamo
#21Bridges

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