In 16 Blocks, Bruce Willis plays Jack Mosley, a man who at one time was a brilliant detective with the NYPD. Sadly, those days are long over. Mosley's life has become a constant downward spiral. Suffering from chronic leg pain as a result of being injured, he cannot run fast anymore. He's often disheveled, bitter, resentful and either drunk or hung over. 

The precinct, although respecting the skills Mosley once possessed, does not trust him to be responsible. Instead, he's given work he can't screw up and collects a check just for showing up and staying out of trouble.

It seems like today will be a normal day for Mosley -- one with nothing to do. He anticipates going home and having a drink. Minutes before he leaves for home, Mosley is told he will have to do overtime on an assignment.

A fellow officer is stuck in traffic and must go to lockup in order to fetch career criminal Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) to testify before a grand jury at 10 a.m. But the officer has only 118 minutes left to complete the assignment and will not be able to make it to lockup and then the courthouse in time. The duty now falls on the shoulders of a resentful Mosley, who's reminded that the trip will not take long. With the courthouse 16 blocks away, it should take him a short 15 minutes to complete this assignment.

The last thing Mosley wants is to watch after a career criminal, especially one who feels he can turn his life around. Having having heard it all before, he wishes Eddie would stop talking because it's giving him a throbbing headache. Furthermore, he could care less about Eddie’s personal property and a book that means everything to him. Eddie complains that the suit his lawyers wanted him to wear did not arrive. He has to go without it as Mosley cuffs him, leads him away and throws him into the backseat of his car.

Unable to stand it any longer, Mosley pulls over and enters a store to buy liquor and a package of headache pills. He leaves a livid Eddie locked in the car. Moments after Mosley crosses the road, an assassin approaches the car and points a gun directly at Eddie’s head. Fortunately, Mosley arrives in time to kill the gunman -- and the pair narrowly escape a second one.

Frank Nugent (David Morse), a homicide detective, enters the picture when Mosley needs a backup team to contain the scene. While studying those around him, Eddie notices that one of the cops dispatched with Nugent is a man he has been called to testify against that morning. Could some members of the NYPD want him dead?

Because of a relationship that goes back a few decades,  Nugent assumes Mosley will trust him and look the other way. He hopes to prevent Eddie from ever making it to the courthouse. One way or another Eddie needs to be killed, and Mosley can either get swept into a dangerous situation or hand Eddie over to be killed and walk away. After all, why should he care? Nugent proposes a mock hostage situation where Eddie can be wiped out. Mosley rejects the proposition and now must help Eddie battle his way through 16 blocks and get him safely to the courthouse to testify before being tracked down or killed.

Willis gives a riveting and compelling performance here, but he's upstaged by Mos Def (whose name means "most definitely"), a gifted actor who injects just the right amount of humor and intensity into his role. 

Although 16 Blocks may seem like a formulaic action flick, it's anything but. Just when the picture appears to be ending in a predictable manner, screenwriter Richard Wenk uses his talent to spin it in an unexpected direction. The major plot twist that sparks the movie's conclusion is one example of Wenk's skill, and it allows director Richard Donner to execute 16 Blocks as a strong adrenaline ride to the finish.  

(Released by Warner Bros. and rated "PG-13" for violence, intense sequences of action and some strong language.)