2K Replay: 16 BLOCKS

 by Adam Riske

Nominated for “Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Yasiin Bey, formerly known as Mos Def) at the Black Movie Awards. He lost to Laurence Fishburne in Akeelah and the Bee.

• Best Scene/Moment: Anytime Yasiin Bey’s character talks about how he wants to open a bakery that specializes in birthday cakes. It’s more interesting than the main plot.

• Best Song: “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe” by Barry White.

• Best Merch: A “16 Blocks (2006) - Double-Sided - Movie Theater Mylar…” for $12.99. There wasn’t much to choose from. This mylar is perfect for this movie. It’s all so bland. Fun fact: When I searched this movie on eBay for merch, I got more results for New Kids on the Block stuff than for 16 Blocks. I wonder if there’s a crossover superfan of both out there somewhere.

• Director Grade: 16 Blocks was directed by Richard Donner.
Great Movies: N/A
Good Movies: Superman, Lethal Weapon, Lethal Weapon 2, Radio Flyer, Conspiracy Theory
OK Movies: The Goonies, Lethal Weapon 3, Maverick, 16 Blocks
Bad Movies: Scrooged, Assassins, Lethal Weapon 4, Timeline
Unseen By Me: X-15, Salt and Pepper, Lola, The Omen, Inside Moves, The Toy, Ladyhawke, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Overall Grade: B-

• Double It with This 2006 Movie: Lucky Number Slevin

• Year 2006 Movies to Trailer Before Them: Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, Inside Man, Running Scared

• Ella McCay or 16 Blocks? Ella McCay

• Mall Movie? I’m gonna say no. This isn’t prestige-y so it could play the mall but Richard Donner doesn’t feel like a mall director and this movie is too square for the mall.

• Only in 2006: Yasiin Bey chooses a voice that thankfully didn’t escape 2006 and was contained only in 16 Blocks. Someone should’ve stopped him early during filming.

• Scene Stealer: I’ll go with Casey Sander by default only because I was like “Wait. Is that Bernadette’s father from The Big Bang Theory?”

• I Miss (tie): Richard Donner and new Bruce Willis movies.

• I Don’t Miss: David Morse. I feel like he’s in one out of every four movies I’ve watched in the past six months. I don’t know how this keeps happening. I should start watching more new releases since he hasn’t been in as many movies in recent years.

• 2006 Crush: Nope.

• 2026 Crush: I got nothing. A 2K Replay first!

• What I Thought in 2006: I vaguely remember not liking 16 Blocks when I saw it back in 2006. It felt kinda drab and low energy. I usually like sad hero Bruce Willis characters too, so it was somewhat of a disappointment.

• What I Think in 2026: I was slightly surprised to realize on this viewing that 16 Blocks is just as much a cop drama as it’s an action movie. It’s very meh. I like the Bruce Willis performance, but Yasiin Bey is doing a thing, and it gets grating after a while and I lost interest in what was happening well before the end credits. It’s a forgettable programmer on par with a TNT cop show you’d watch at 11am on a Tuesday.