16 BLOCKS

The world's most famous Bruces - Willis and Forsyth - may seem unconnected, but dig deep on this one. Both merit respect for surviving this far, and both, when the chance comes, can flick the younger crowd two arthritic fingers.

For Willis, 16 Blocks is that chance.

He plays Jack Mosley, a tired detective hooked on booze and backhanders. After another routine day of drugs and death, he's given one last job: to nursemaid a witness to court.

His passenger, Eddie Bunker (Mos Def), has two hours to get across town, at which point he will testify against a group of corrupt cops. Two problems: Jack is one of the accused, and Jack's boss seems intent on disrupting justice by sending a hired killer to give his own verdict.

Saving Bunker's life, Mosley sobers up to realise an army of dirty badges are on his tail, and the next 16 blocks make the difference between life and death, damnation and redemption.

"Days change, seasons change, people don't change," says the 'hero' at one point, but he's wrong. Willis is certainly a new man, washing away the stink of recent failures simply by adopting a toupee, fake gut and real grit. In his hands, Mosley's a complex crook it's impossible to hate, and the actor does it with virtually no dialogue.

Mos Def does the talking, in a weird nasal twang causing more laughs than drama. But the hip-hop icon is shaping up as a movie star and is likely to be a major future presence.

But the real surprise here is director Richard Donner. After Lethal Weapon he paid the bills with mediocre nonsense such as Timeline, Maverick and Assassins. That's over.

This remake of Clint Eastwood's The Gauntlet shows how to build tension and escalate the suspense. It also making what is, alongside Spike Lee's Inside Man, one of the most unexpectedly enjoyable films on current release.