“16 Blocks”Warner Bros. PicturesDirected by Richard DonnerWritten by Richard WenkStarring: Bruce Willis, Mos Def, David Morse, David Zayas and Jenna Stern Rated PG-13/95 minutesOpens todayTwo-and-a-half out of four stars

Let me just say this: I love Bruce Willis. Love him.

Maybe it’s nostalgia, but I grew up on guys like Willis and Schwarzenegger, and I will love them until the day I die. That being said?the man’s getting old. And yet he keeps insisting on doing action movies.

With deep sorrow and regret, I now have to declare that the magic is gone.

In “16 Blocks,” Willis once again takes on the role of a cop who takes the law into his own hands. Looking haggard, old and depressed, Jack Mosley (Willis) is commissioned to transport a prisoner to the courthouse one morning. The courthouse is 16 blocks away, and the prisoner, Eddie Bunker (Mos Def), has to be there by 10 a.m.

It’s a race against time!

But not so fast, Jack-a few dirty cops have other plans. It seems Eddie is about to testify against one of Jack’s fellow police officers, implicating a whole ring of crime and corruption within the force. And so Frank Nugent (David Morse), who coincidentally is Jack’s former partner and unrelated to Ted, spearheads an operation to take Eddie down. Jack, playing the type of cynical do-gooder we’ve seen in “Die Hard” and such, makes it his mission to protect Eddie no matter what it takes.

As movies like this go, the plot exists solely as a platform for a suspenseful cat-and-mouse game. But somehow, the film is never as tense or exciting as it seems it should be. We know the situation, we know the stakes, we even like the characters-but the ensuing chase and action scenes are, for the most part, pretty lackluster.

Director Richard Donner is, or was, an expert on this type of material, having helmed the first two “Lethal Weapon” movies (both of which were phenomenal). But here, he can’t “build up the kind of tension” the story needs. Do they make an action-movie equivalent for Viagra?

Oddly enough for this genre, the characters end up being much more memorable than the plot. All three of the leads give strong performances-some may complain about the strange voice Mos Def uses in the film, but I found him to be an effective character.

In the middle of all of the story’s chaos, the film tries to sell us on the idea that Jack and Eddie will become the best of friends in two hours’ time, but that element just doesn’t work at all, despite the actors’ sincerity.

With movies like last year’s “Hostage” and now “16 Blocks,” Willis seems to be trying to re-claim his place as one of our pre-eminent action stars. Well, it’s not working (“Sin City” being the lone exception). What I’d like to see is Willis, an underrated actor anyway, do more character-centered work, as he’s done so well in “Unbreakable,” “The Sixth Sense” and “12 Monkeys.” Perhaps then, the movie star who helped define a generation will be able to age gracefully in front of our eyes.