The movie is about a cop, Andre Davis (played by Chadwick Boseman), a successful NYPD cop who is known to be good at hunting and killing "cop killers". He swears he kills them in self defense and does not want to be known as the "Trigger".
During one of the nights in New York City, two characters managed to steal some 50 kilograms of cocaine from an place masquerading as a wine shop. Being ex military, these two were able to kill a number of cops in their escape and meet up with their cocaine buyer.
Meanwhile, Andre Davis was called into the scene to investigate while Frankie Burns (played by Sienna Miller) was given to him as his partner. Andre Davis was spot on when he analyzed the crime scene and to stave off the FBI itching in, he requests to close down Manhattan via its 21 bridges. He promises to finish off the case by then.
Eventually our cop killers got their money and was ready to continue to escape when Davis finally caught up with them at a fixer's home. Ray Jackson (played by Taylor Kitsch) one of the cop killers were gunned down by Davis, while his partner in crime Michael Trujillo (played by Stephan James) was able to escape. He was able to run away with his money and two pen drives from the fixer, detailing the pay outs made to some corrupt cops in the 85th precinct.
Being good at investigations he was able to catch up with Trujillo in a subway train and was able to convince him to lay down his weapon and surrender. This was time when Burns was able to catch up and ultimately shot Trujillo. Just before dying, he gave the pen drives to Davis for which the latter hid it from Burns. Finally the case was closed with the death of Trujillo and the whole police force was happy.
Everybody then went home and Captain McKenna (played by JK Simmons) was surprised to see Davis at his home. It turned out that Davis had opened the pen drives and found out the truth within them. It stored information on cops, with their badge numbers, of whom received bribes in the precinct. It showed pay outs to Captain McKenna and all the other cops who killed our two cop killers, and it included Frankie Burns. To silence Davis, McKenna tried to have Davis killed by having all those in the 85th come to his house. Being the "Trigger", Davis was able to kill the cops who tried to kill him.
Who he didn't kill or try to kill was Burns, and he laid down his gun and persuades Burns to give up. She had the pen drives and Davis mentioned to her he made copies and sent it out already. It was just a matter of time that she too will be arrested. Davis mentioned that he doesn't want Burn's daughter to live without a mother should she be given a life sentence for shooting him. In the end, Burns gives up and lets Davis arrest her.
Wow what a story line this movie has. All the trailers for this movie points to a robbery movie but then again everything went sideways. We were taken for a ride there and it was only sometime midway when we were given a hint by the character of Davis, that everything wasn't right. We weren't told by the movie that those who killed the suspects along the way were of the same precinct and they all knew each other. There was a conspiracy somehow and we suspected Burn to be a part when she shot Trujillo without reason.
Chadwick Boseman did a splendid performance here as Andre Davis, he was a true blue goody cop here. Even if his character racked up a number of self defense killings, we can see through him his values as a cop. A straight and morally good cop, which was very hard to find in this time of ours. He pulled off a great job here and we liked him here over his character with the Avengers. I can go on and on with his performance but we had to make this review short and sweet. Watch this film for Chadwick alone and its truly worth it.
Sienna Miller as Frankie Burns was great but somehow her script wasn't as rich with great dialogues as with Boseman. Her character was hot and cold for us. Maybe we associated female cops as emotional and she pictured us to be meek and feeble as she asked Davis to protect her, she being a mother of course. Only to find that she's addicted to violence somehow and wishes all the perpetrators dead. From being weak then asking Davis to shoot Trujillo even with a gun on her head. What? Why would she suggest that? We thought she was a mother? The script didn't place much emphasis on her character that much so we thought of ignoring her for the first parts of the film. We only started having interest with her when Davis thinks there was a conspiracy so we watched everybody's moves thereafter.
Our dynamic perpetrator duo are no push overs as well, we love Taylor Kitsch but he died in the film. He is such a great actor on screen and he shines here but it wasn't much of him in 21 bridges. It was more focused on his partner, Stephan James who had a rich dialogues attributed to him. He had the story with him all along and not with Kitsch. In fairness he didn't disappoint and was able to match up with Kitsch making us love the bad guys in this film.
Another actor worth mentioning here is Jonah Jameson of Spiderman, JK Simmons. He is a seasoned actor and it showed in the film. Although he still looked like his character in Spiderman, gladly he didn't have a cigar with him here. As a corrupt cop, exposed in the end, he delivered his lines as to how the dirty money was being spent. A last ditch effort of justifying their actions and hoping Davis would understand. Nevertheless, JK Simmons is another actor good to watch in this movie.
Overall, the movie was a surprise hit for us. A thin story line we expected but then we finished it finding that it had an underlying tones in it. Worth watching and we highly suggest you do so if you can find a copy already. Its a cop against all the other cops kind of movie really do sit well with us.
