16 Blocks

Jack Mosley is an alcoholic, burned-out NYPD detective. Despite a grueling late shift the night before, his lieutenant orders him to escort a witness, Eddie Bunker, from local custody to the courthouse sixteen blocks away to testify on a police corruption case before a grand jury at 10 a.m. Bunker tries to be friendly with Mosley, telling him of his aspirations to move to Seattle and open a bakery with his sister whom he has never met, but Mosley is uninterested and insists on stopping at a liquor store. Hired assassins shoot up the escort car, and Mosley drags Bunker to his favorite bar to take shelter and call for backup. Mosley's former partner, Frank Nugent, and several other officers arrive. Nugent admits that he is one of the officers named in the corruption case. The corrupt cops try to frame Bunker for firing at an officer, but Mosley intervenes, rescuing Bunker and fleeing. Mosley briefly stops at his sister Diane's apartment and learns that the police have already approached her about his activities earlier that day. As he and Bunker elude their pursuers, Mosley is wounded. They become cornered in a run-down apartment building as Nugent and his men search floor by floor. Mosley calls the district attorney's office but purposely gives the wrong apartment number, suspecting there is a mole involved. As the men rush to the incorrect location, Mosley and Bunker use the distraction to escape onto a passenger bus. The bus crashes into a construction site and is surrounded by the ESU. Not wanting the passengers to get caught up in crossfire, Mosley allows them to go free while enabling Bunker to escape in the chaos. Mosley finds a tape recorder while going through the passengers' luggage and prepares a farewell message to Diane. To his surprise, Bunker returns to the bus. His tenacity convinces Mosley to keep fighting, and he drives the bus into an alley, temporarily blocking the police from following them. He finds that Bunker has been wounded and calls Diane, a paramedic, for help. Diane treats Bunker and arranges for a second ambulance to take them to the hospital. Bunker learns that Mosley is also due to be named in the investigation but is willing to testify in his place. Mosley gets off a block from the courthouse and wishes Bunker luck with his bakery, instructing the paramedic to put Bunker on a bus for Seattle. Bunker promises to send him a cake on his birthday. Mosley continues to the courthouse, where the police and ESU are waiting. Entering through the underground garage, he again refuses Nugent's pleas not to testify. Nugent then orders one of his men to gun down Mosley as he enters, but an ESU sniper kills the shooter. Mosley informs the district attorney that he will testify in exchange for Bunker having his record expunged, also revealing that he had recorded the conversation with Nugent in the garage on the tape recorder, which he submits as evidence. Two years later, Mosley is freed from prison. He celebrates his birthday with Diane and other friends and is surprised to find that the cake had indeed come from Bunker, who has been successful in starting "Eddie & Jack's Good Sign Bakery" in Seattle.

Plot from 16 BlocksCC BY-SA 4.0