21 Bridges (2019) * *

Directed by:  Brian Kirk


Starring:  Chadwick Boseman, JK Simmons, Sienna Miller, Taylor Kitsch, Stephan James

Despite the participation of Joe Russo and Anthony Russo (of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame), 21 Bridges is a by-the-numbers police drama with few thrills and, upon reflection, some serious plot holes.    Chadwick Boseman (of Black Panther) provides a sturdy lead as Andre Davis, a cop brought in on a case involving eight cops killed in a shootout with armed drug dealers.   Davis has a Past, which necessitates an internal affairs hearing held hours before the killings.    He has killed nine people in eight years, which must be some kind of record, and internal affairs is concerned he may have an itchy trigger finger.   

Davis is asked to spearhead the tracking of the dealers (Kitsch and James), who expected to steal fifty kilos of cocaine stashed in a restaurant safe.    There are three hundred kilos, not fifty, and the dealers are surprised to see eight cops descend on the place so quickly.    A deadly shootout occurs, the dealers flee the scene, and Davis is soon asked by the precinct captain (Simmons) to find the dealers and swiftly dispatch justice.    Davis suspects the dealers are heading to Manhattan, where they can unload the drugs less conspicuously in the wee hours of the morning, and demands the mayor close the island to make it impossible for the dealers to escape.    Judging by how easily the dealers are found, this is equivalent to using a shotgun to kill a mosquito.   The dealers, especially James, are allowed some depth and a backstory.  

Davis is assigned a partner in Frankie Burns (Miller), who worked in the same precinct as the deceased cops.    There is little suspense as to what will happen, why, and to whom.    The villains may as well be wearing t-shirts stating, "VILLAIN," and one of them makes an amateurish mistake which allows Davis to discover that person's involvement.    I also found it particularly odd that Davis, who as you may recall is under investigation for killing nine people in eight years, is allowed to leave the crime scene shortly after dispatching more people with his gun.    Surely, someone would have questions, or have him at least fill out a report.    He is allowed to leave as if he simply rescued someone's cat from a tree.

If IA didn't like him at the beginning of 21 Bridges, they will like him considerably less at the end.