21 Bridges (2019)

wasn't a huge fan of this, the plot reminded me too much of "the negotiator".

I have mainly two problems with the movie. The first is that the basic "high concept" premise, the lock-down of Manhattan to catch two criminals, is basically unused in the film. It gives an artificial time limit for the operation, but the film is not about the hunted trying to find a way to go through the net. The second problem is that the basic structure is ok on paper, but the film does not do the work needed to make it work. To be more precise the film has two main characters - the cop that chases the two criminals and one of the two criminals - and we jump back and forth between the point of view of the hunter and of the hunted. We can understand the film would want us to empathize with the criminal who is not the real bad guy of the story, but the scenario lacks the needed exposition work to earn this empathy, so the structure does not really work.

That being said, the pace is good and chasing people around in the New York night makes for some neat cinema. Even if it's not great or anything, there is also something pretty nice to see this kind of story in an american movie instead of a TV show or a korean movie (since Korea has been making for a couple decades all these B films Hollywood no longer makes and have been very good at it).

Oh and that might be the "teenager in the '90s" part of me speaking, but Sienna Miller's character with her cargo pants and military style jacket over a hoodie has a powerfully nostalgic charm. This costume choice feels a bit like a throw back to the era when this type of films were last made !