Movie Review - 21 Bridges

Ever since his breakout performance in the smash hit Black Panther, a movie that had a huge impact in most aspects, Chadwick Boseman’s star has continued to rise even further. He is back this time with an action thriller titled 21 Bridges, a movie where he assumes a completely different role to the one he assumed as the ‘King of Wakanda’. Sporting a new accent (his real one) in this one, it’s strange seeing him in this role altogether, if anything this proves just how good he was as the comic book based character T’Çhalla. It was always going to be intriguing to see him in this one, in what seems from the onset as a humdinger of a movie:

This one follows an embattled NYPD detective (Chadwick Boseman), who is thrust into a citywide manhunt for a pair of cop killers after uncovering a massive and unexpected conspiracy. As the night unfolds, lines become blurred on who he is pursuing, and who is in pursuit of him. When the search intensifies, extreme measures are taken to prevent the killers from escaping Manhattan as the authorities close all 21 Bridges to prevent any entry or exit from the iconic island.

Positioned as a drama/mystery, we would prefer to describe 21 Bridges as a thriller that has drama and action as part of it. A mystery not so much or at least in the larger sense of the movie it’s not. What’s great about it and something that we liked is that there isn’t too much fluff in between and gets to the point very quickly with everything proceeding logically and speedily from one point to the other. It’s not complicated and at a running time of 1h 43m it ensures that you won’t be finding yourself spending too much time watching which can sometimes (in some movies) feel unnecessary.

The plot is easily digestible and straightforward with the inclusion of a twist towards the end which further makes it an overall cool watch. It won’t blow you away or anything like that (at least we weren’t), it does however do an adequate job in a short space of time. So yes it’s great for those that don’t necessarily have a great and long attention span. Chadwick Boseman gives it a great presence with a strong performance which allows audiences to view him in a different light and away from the whole ‘King of Wakanda’ persona.

21 Bridges is simple in its approach and such is its length that there’s only so much you can say about it. It does make for a great watch though and delivers cool performances from all involved. We particularly liked that it wasn’t complicated and positions Chadwick Boseman as a real life action star away from the comic book setting. A good one to watch this weekend, it gets a solid 7 out of 10 from us.

Our thanks to M-Net Movies (in partnership with Ster-Kinekor) for the cool pre-screening.

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#21 Bridges #Chadwick Boseman #M-Net Movies #Ster-Kenikor

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Thabiso Moloi

With many, many years of PR, digital & influencer marketing work under his belt, Thabiso has worked on a great number of technology, business and consumer brands. In addition, he has become obsessed with most things under the sun including music, series, sports, movies etc which he now regularly writes about. You can find him on Twitter: @Thabz_14