Movie Review: 21 Bridges
Review And Underlying Themes
On the surface of things, 21 Bridges seems like a regular cop drama movie. Chadwick Boseman (“Andre Davis”) is investigating the killing of 8 police officers at a robbery. But something is off about the whole situation and “Andre” and his partner try to get to the bottom of it as they pursue the two suspects across Manhattan.
This has all the cop drama elements: Emotional police officers being overly aggressive as they try to “avenge” their fallen comrades, internal police politics, surveillance, police talk…etc.
But there’s a bit more underneath. Some themes were showcased and maybe I’m overthinking but I definitely couldn’t help it. So let’s dig in.
Overall Review: Good Cop Drama Movie
Chadwick Boseman delivers a great performance as Detective Andre Davis. Moviegoers may forever know him as “T’Challa” from Black Panther, but Boseman proves to be a versatile actor, playing a New York cop called in when 8 police officers get gunned down. You almost expect him to bust out the Wakanda accent during his scenes but he stays on form and shines in a movie which could easily be an episode of Law and Order or another cop drama on TV.
He’s joined in by Sienna Miller who plays “Frankie”, a narcotics officer. There are some good action scenes and gun battles as Chadwick and Sienna’s characters tail two suspects in Manhattan, which is on lockdown. Most of the dialogue is short and straight to the point.
Coming in a 100 minutes runtime (1 hr, 40 mins), the movie breezes through as it presents the moviegoer with a “something is not as it seems” element at the start of the movie.
Themes
Like I said, there are several themes that make this an interesting watch. It can be hard to not catch any of it as this cop drama moves quite quickly. So here’s a couple of themes which I caught which can pertain to our modern reality:
Police Surveillance And Technology
The movie is set in Manhattan, New York. New York is the place where the 9/11 attacks took place. It would make sense that such a place would be high on security and that’s showcased in this movie. In view of the killing of 8 officers, Manhattan goes on lockdown and the police use all their resources to catch the killers.
In one scene, the police make use of facial recognition cameras to identify a suspect who is linked to the two fugitives.
This is a scary reality that is playing out in real life and shows how extensive the use of technology to apprehend criminals can meet.
However, in the course of the movie, it is revealed that there are shady cops within the police force.
It begs the question: How far can you trust the police with a powerful tool like facial recognition? On one hand, it can help pursue and catch fugitives and even help avert terrorist attacks. On the other hand, it can be used as a tool for racial discrimination as well as abused in other ways if not checked.
“Hands Up, Don’t Shoot”, Black And Blue Loves Matter
There’s a lot of gun violence in this movie. There’s cops getting killed, as well as civilian bystanders dying in the process.
Presently, there have been lots of news reports about shootings of black civilians by police officers. Most of these shootings are excessive. In some of these cases, police officers don’t face the full rigor of the law after investigations are conducted.
This movie doesn’t try to make a point of excessive force, but there are lots of examples of the police in trying to apprehend the fugitives using extreme force with the excuse that they’re “cop killers”.
I mean, of course, they’re trying to catch criminals who gunned down police officers in cold blood but the “shoot first and ask questions” approach is really evident.
In one scene during the movie, a couple of police officers get a lead on a suspect and proceed to follow up to him in a night club. The cops are “dirty” and shoot down the suspect. They try to cover it up by saying that he tried to shoot first by planting a weapon on him.
This fits the narrative that police officers sometimes plant evidence on suspects. In this scene, a man was shot dead in view of eyewitnesses but in the way it plays out, it looks like they were “justified” and would not face repercussions. It was very telling.
Should You Watch This Movie? Depends
Don’t expect this movie to be groundbreaking when you go see it. If you have a good eye, you’ll totally figure out the movie’s plot before you get halfway through it. You could say that it’s a bit predictable.
It does get straight to the point. It has straight dialogues and good shoot’em action at different points during the movie.
If you’re familiar with cop dramas, this will seem like a run of the mill movie. Chadwich Boseman is the standout in this movie even though you have veterans like JK Simmons who doesn’t get a lot of screen time.
You may not catch the underlying themes as I did it but that’s OK. The movie still works fine and it’s an OK ride.
If you’re looking for a deep cop drama movie, this might not be up your alley. But if you’re willing to sit back, relax and watch the plot and action unfold, you’ll be in great company.
