New York gets shut down in 21 Bridges

by Ashton Howard

Chadwick Boseman will forever be known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Black Panther, a superhero dedicated to justice and creating a legacy of his own after the death of his father. In “21 Bridges,” Chadwick finds himself dealing with the same parallels as King T’Challa, but this time as detective Andre Davis, an NYPD officer who as a child lost his police officer father to violent criminals. Andre dedicated his life to following his father’s footsteps by serving and protecting those in need. He earned the nickname” trigger” amongst his colleagues after shooting eight people in nine years.

“21 Bridges,” directed by Brian Kirk, has the recipe for a great movie, but the lack of a clear plot and missing character arks make it bland. Ray (Taylor Kitsch) and Michael (Stephan James) portray the two criminals. A standard job turns into a nightmare leaving eight officers dead. Andre (Boseman) is called to find the two cop killers and orders the city of Manhattan closed off, hence the title 21 Bridges.

The plot itself is laughable with the idea of shutting down the entire city of Manhattan to locate two people, that seems far-fetched. My biggest concern is the lack of background information regarding Chadwick’s character. The movie opens with 13-year-old Andre tear-streaked face as he listens to the off-camera sermon delivered at his father’s funeral. It then fasts forwards to when he’s older and shows that his mother now has dementia. You would think this would have to been revisited, or tied into the plot somehow, but that never happens.

The details were too skimpy for me to grasp the reasoning behind introducing the father and son dynamic in the first place. Stephan James, who just recently starred in “If Beale Street Could Talk,” stole every scene he was in. His portrayal as Michael commanded the screen. He had me rooting and clapping for him throughout the entire film, even though he was considered the villain.

“21 Bridges” marks Chadwick’s first movie outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Watching him portray any other character besides Black Panther is going to take some getting used to, that's all I envisioned while watching the movie. The two characters of King T’Challa and Andre are essentially the same. They both have similar backgrounds with their fathers and they both feel morally obligated to save the lives of others when needed. I think it’s a good filler film to watch if you have nothing to do. The film isn’t bad, but it isn’t great. It’s predictable at times, but still entertaining enough to keep you intrigued.

Scale- I give this film a six for Stephan James