Competent 12 Rounds an Action Throwback
One year after his apprehension resulted in the death of his beloved girlfriend, master criminal and arms dealer Miles Jackson (Aidan Gillen) has returned to New Orleans to exact his revenge on the man he caught him, Detective Danny Fisher (WWE star John Cena). Kidnapping his girlfriend Molly (Ashley Scott) as collateral, Miles has 12 tasks for Danny to perform at the end of which, if he survives, he’ll earn back the woman he so dearly loves.
John Cena attempts to outrun the clichés in 20th Century Fox's 12 Rounds
It isn’t at all shocking that 20th Century Fox chose not to screen the action-thriller 12 Rounds. One look at the trailer and you’ve seen the entire movie start to finish, any surprises or shocks this one might have had coming eroded thanks to its short 2-minute and 33-second running time.
Yet I made the trek to the multiplex to see it this morning all the same and, you know what? The darn thing really wasn’t half-bad. Sure that odious trailer ruined the majority of it, but then so did the hackneyed and overly-familiar screenplay by newcomer Daniel Kunka. Even so, director Renny Harlin, a long way away from the adrenaline-fueled heights of Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger (but then he’s been away from those for what seems like an eternity), keeps his foot pressed directly upon the accelerator, delivering enough decent thrills and chills for me to give the film a relative pass.
If anything the film recalls some of Schwarzenegger’s early 1980’s programmers, but instead of tossing a phone booth á la Commando Cena ups the ante by throwing an entire motorboat – trailer and all – in front of speeding car. But that’s just the start of all the silly shenanigans, and roughly 100-minutes later the popular wrestler has managed to jump, punch, shoot or swear aggressively at every cliché in the B-movie action playbook.
There really isn’t all that much more to say. Would I recommend wandering out to the theater to catch a matinee like I did? Heck no, but 12 Rounds is admittedly going to make a perfect afternoon rental for fans of Van Damme and Seagal’s early work (now there’s a niche audience), while everyone else isn’t going be in too much pain if they end up having to endure the darn thing right along with them. It’s competent, reasonably well-acted and filled with enough low-tech high-octane stunt work to help pass the time.
Of course, you could also just watch the trailer. After all, it offers up pretty much the exact same thing and it’s about 46-times shorter than the movie itself is. Even better, because it’s online you can watch the darn thing for free. Talk about delivering a knockout.
Film Rating: êê1/2 (out of 4)
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