Historically, many people feel that the 1970s were the halcyon years for gritty crime dramas, when filmmakers like Sidney Lumet and William Friedkin and Martin Scorsese were making great and nearly great movies about cops and criminals. I do not disagree. Now comes 21 Bridges, a new crime drama that feels like a direct descendant of those times, and which coalesces all the elements of the genre into a powerhouse parable about corruption.

Brian Kirk’s film posits the familiar premise of a cocaine heist gone bad, but then follows it up with a brilliant time-sensitive manhunt one night for two robbers who kill several cops during the heist. The suspense ratchets ever more tightly as dawn approaches, when the Manhattan lockdown ordered by Detective Andre Davis (Chadwick Boseman) will by necessity be lifted. Meanwhile, Davis and his uninvited sidekick, Detective Frankie Burns (Sienna Miller), discover that there is much more behind the heist than anyone expected to find.

Fans of cop dramas may be disappointed that the plot is familiar; perhaps, too, it has played out on the many cop dramas and investigative shows on TV these past two decades (none of which I have watched). That doesn’t matter; what does matter is what Kirk and his writers have done with the material. The film is riveting, from the desperation of the two hoodlums, who were hoodwinked into a much bigger job than they expected, to the surveillance headquarters, where clues begin pouring in fast and furious. As Davis and Burns storm through the city from crime scene to crime scene, hoping to at last get the jump on the killers before they can flee, every angle of the heist leads to the inescapable truth of a bigger conspiracy.

This film is tightly written and as taut as can be, with the time element continuously ticking away. It moves like a shot at times, then pauses at the main set pieces for exposition and action. I was reminded, quite positively, of the 1970s-era films as I watched it, with Boseman’s Davis as a modern-era Popeye Doyle, ensuring that corruption is always rooted out. As he explains at the climax (I’m paraphrasing), “That blood [of innocent people killed by illicit drugs] cannot be on the Blue.” ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2. 23 November 2019.