21 BRIDGES (2019)

Maybe not 21, but plenty of bridges shown going in & out of Manhattan in montages that open & close this tricked up police procedural about a heroin grab that proves too big to handle.  The gimmick is that trigger-happy lead detective Chadwick Boseman has all 21 bridges shut down overnight to keep the thieves trapped in the city.  (Tunnels & ferries, too.)  Yet the script hardly bothers with the concept of closing the city up tight, never even thinks to have a look at motor vehicle backup.  Not much use as ticking clock, either.  (Our Italian poster comes up with a 'bridge-less' generic title.)  Elsewise, not a lot deeply wrong with this Bread-and-Butter police procedural that sees Boseman playing a variation on that old standby character, the overlooked professional finally hired for the big job, unaware he’s been chosen because he’s sure to fail . . . then comes thru after all.  Here, he’s put in charge after seven police deaths at the robbery site because of his reputation for shooting first and asking questions later.  The corrupt participants counting on Boseman to kill the pair of mid-level robbers who stumbled onto the supply (gravy) chain that runs right thru city politics, drug lords and the police force. Director Brian Kirk might well be at his best on action stuff, but hard to tell as the settings are doubly dark; first because it all plays out between 1 & 5 a.m., and second because he’s hiding mostly Philadelphia locations trying to pass as Manhattan.  Add in supporting turns bland enough for network tv and the usually great J.K. Simmons phoning it in.  But credit Boseman with keeping this one largely on course, in spite of a business-as-usual vibe that even throws on a ‘70s tag ending.  You know the shot, the big helicopter pull-back, the sudden change in film grain, the fade to credits.  Digital camera specifications may have lessened grain deterioration, but not improved the concept.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  Check out that ultra-clean F-train subway car during a final face-off between Boseman and the surviving crook.  How long has it been since spic-n-span urban space, police procedural and Manhattan Transit came together?

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  Don Siegel’s CHARLEY VARRICK/’73 remains the film to beat on the dangers of robbers finding more than they expect.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2020/05/charley-varrick-1973.html