21 Bridges

Chadwick Boseman had a lot of scripts to choose from after the success of Black Panther, so we’re lucky he decided to become the next Steven Seagal with 21 Bridges. The film begins with 13-year-old Andre Davis burying his patrolman father before Boseman takes over as grown-up Detective Davis – who’s facing down Internal Affairs over burying plenty of criminals. That soon makes Davis a popular choice to go after two lowlifes who killed plenty of cops after stumbling onto a massive haul of uncut cocaine. From there, this fast-paced procedural starts divvying up the duties. Andre’s paired with a tough narcotics detective played by Sienna Miller, while Stephan James and Taylor Kitsch get their own share of screen time as the desperate thieves trying to get out of Manhattan. Sadly, the plot eventually veers into a more predictable direction because Hollywood can only make certain kinds of movies nowadays. The detour isn’t fatal, though. Just treat this as the Magnum Force follow-up to a Dirty Andre movie that should’ve already been made. From there, 21 Bridges rolls on to become worthy of a double-bill with this year’s equally unrepentant Dragged Across Concrete. It’s just a shame the marketing department didn’t have faith in the film. This fine ensemble cast didn’t deserve to be sacrificed to an ad campaign based on Boseman’s Panther-style glowering.

[R]