16 blocks of familiar territory

Bruce Willis is by now a dab hand at creating weary, alcoholic, seen-it-all but fundamentally honest cops.

And here he is NYPD detective Jack Mosley, assigned to transport petty criminal Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) to testify before a grand jury.

The courthouse is 16 blocks away, but that means trouble because assassins are determined to get Bunker before he can spill the beans to the judge.

What follows is 90 minutes of mayhem in the streets of New York and the final realisation that being a good cop matters to him more than he thought.

I have seen this film, and its variants, more than a dozen times. Director Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon) goes to it with a will and Willis does his shtick with practised skill.

16 Blocks
Cert: cert12A