By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
Chadwick Boseman isn?t about to be pigeonholed. Although he?ll likely always be remembered for his dynamic star turn as T?Challa/ Black Panther in Marvel?s blockbuster hit ?Black Panther,? the 43-year-old actor is taking Hollywood by storm with a string of critically acclaimed movies that include his portrayal of baseball legend Jackie Robinson in ?42,? James Brown in ?Get on Up? and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in the 2017 movie, ?Marshall.?
In his latest movie,
?21 Bridges,? Boseman impresses once again playing a beleaguered NYPD detective who uncovers a widespread conspiracy within the department while hunting down a pair of cop killers.
Detective Andre Davis (Boseman) has always loved being a cop. He?s one of the good ones and takes the oath to protect and serve seriously. He?s killed and taken a lot of bad guys off the streets oand has vowed to carry on the fine tradition of his police officer father who was well respected and killed in the line of duty.
So, it?s understandable that Det. Davis (Boseman) is a bit miffed that he?s being investigated by Internal Affairs for his number of shootings which were all justifiable.
Det. Davis is smart and has seen most everything. That?s why he knows right off the bat that something isn?t quite right when two street punks named Michael (Stephan James, ?If Beale Street Could Talk?) and Ray (Taylor Kitsch, TV?s ?Waco?) rob a stash of pure cocaine from a walk in refrigerator/freezer at an upscale Manhattan restaurant yet they leave the majority of it behind.
Ray and Michael were planning to stumble on 30 kilos of coke. Instead they found 300. Well, before these guys can load their bags, a handful of cops are snooping around with flashlights and banging on the doors. When they notice the refrigerator open, they call in a robbery in progress. They barge in but are met by a hail of gunfire from Ray and Michael.
The robbers manage to escape first by car and then on foot.
When the FBI, NYPD police Capt. McKenna (J.K. Simmons, ?Whiplash?) and Det. Davis arrive and see all the carnage, there are soon more questions than answers about what went down.
Det. Davis tells the investigators there?s no way two amateur robbers would be able to move that much dope. He orders a four-hour shut down of the 21 bridges that lead into and out of the island of Manhattan to keep the fugitives from escaping.
When Capt. McKenna (Simmons) insists that narcotics investigator Frankie Burns (Sienna Miller, TV?s ?The Loudest Voice?) work alongside Det. Davis, well things take an odd turn.
Speaking of turns, there are several in this bullet ridden, twisty, crime caper co-written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, who is the brother of Sacramento movie director Joe Carnahan (?El Chicano? and ?Death Wish?).
?21 Bridges? director Brian Kirk, (TV?s ?Game of Thrones? and ?Luther?) keeps the action moving at a frenetic pace.
While ?21 Bridges? beats with the familiarity of other gritty cop thrillers you?ve seen before, it?s Boseman--who produced the film with Joe and Anthony Russo (?Avengers: Endgame?) --that elevates it beyond B-movie status.
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Take A Peek At This Trailer For
"21 BRIDGES"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics? Association (BFCA), The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC), The Alliance Of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.