12 Rounds Reviews

Wrestler-turned-actor John Cena returns to the big screen under the guidance of venerable action director Renny Harlin with 12 Rounds. Enjoyable, brainless and completely pretension-free, this fast-paced action-thriller is fundamentally a mishmash of Die Hard: With a Vengeance and Speed, and it's a blast of pure fun as long as you can suspend your disbelief. Unfortunately, the title star's lack of range as an actor makes Arnold Schwarzenegger seem nuanced by comparison. WWE Wrestler John Cena made his acting debut in 2006's The Marine - a woeful dumb-as-rocks actioner that lacked both style and kinetic energy. One could consider 12 Rounds to be a duplicate of The Marine, but it'd be erroneous to believe such a thing. After all, why would Cena traverse through the same territory twice? In The Marine, Cena played an unstoppable marine whose wife is kidnapped by a bunch of bad guys. And in 12 Rounds, Cena plays an unstoppable police officer whose girlfriend is kidnapped by a bad Irishman. Completely different! Oh, wait...

During the opening moments of the film, New Orleans cop Danny Fisher (Cena) captures Miles Jackson (Aidan Gillen) - a notorious terrorist and arms dealer. In the process, however, Jackson's girlfriend is killed. One year later, the criminal mastermind escapes from prison with plans to enact his revenge, taunting Danny with a series of twelve challenges which the policeman must successfully complete in order to secure the safe release of his girlfriend (Ashley Scott).

Designed to keep your pulse rate pounding non-stop, this action-packed thrill-ride contains a plot best described as a chess game on speed. With the reliable Renny Harlin at the helm, you should know precisely what you're in for. Harlin delivers an onslaught of booming stunts as well as a watchable protagonist with everyman qualities (ala Die Hard). 12 Rounds makes no apologies about the type of film it is. Rather than attempting to integrate a surplus of exposition, the plot throttles forward at breakneck speed, introducing familiar genre archetypes such as partners, cops, and pain-in-the-ass FBI interference. This is also a stunt-happy picture, and it's refreshing to witness practical effects as opposed to the modern CG-enhanced approach. Structured litigiously like Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Harlin's 12 Rounds rarely stops to breathe and is forever on the hunt for a dilapidated New Orleans location to blow up or to find another way for Danny to evade assured doom.

The titular rounds permit director Harlin the opportunity to concoct a number of compelling action set-pieces, some of which are slightly marred by the frenetic camerawork, the bland dialogue, and the wooden acting. The action usually involves chases and general destruction as Danny attempts to quickly travel from location to location or stop a reckless vehicle. With all the non-stop mayhem, this is the perfect video game movie. As 12 Rounds is an action flick of this current cinematic era, the editing is hyperactive and the camera is pretty shaky. Fortunately and surprisingly, however, Harlin is skilled enough to ensure the cinematography isn't overly distracting. Harlin's direction is extremely slick as well - so slick that the film hurtles between action sequences with boundless energy. Frankly, this is more or less an extended trailer.

12 Rounds sorely lacks intensity, however. The screenplay is overflowing with clichés and cheesy dialogue. It's also predictable from the word 'go'! 12 Rounds is competently shot and edited, but every time Danny's life is in danger it's obvious he'll live through it. The intensity is severely lessened by the docile PG-13 rating in particular. In the Die Hard movies, John McClane (the protagonist) ends up being covered in blood, cuts and bruises during every adventure, not to mention each challenge he faces is nail-biting. In 12 Rounds, Danny faces surprisingly mundane challenges. For amplified intensity the film needed profanity and intense dialogue, of which it has practically none in its current state (everyone seems a tad too calm, delivering flat dialogue). The PG-13 rating also robs the movie of the opportunity to keep an audience entertained with some good old-fashioned exploitation. 12 Rounds is too generic, and because it's a clear hodgepodge of bygone action films it's tough to fully enjoy it despite the fun action set-pieces.

Predictably, this WWE-produced John Cena actioner is incredibly stupid. It's not as bad as The Marine on this front, but there are massive problems with the film's believability. As Danny's set of challenges begin, his house is blown up. First of all, how could anyone plant explosives inside the man's house without anyone noticing? More importantly, a large amount of explosives within one's own home would be easy to spot!
Danny's indestructible tendencies become apparent when he rappels down a high-rise building and is eventually forced to jump, falling several metres onto wooden scaffolding which then collapses. But the man endures no broken bones or scratches. He's even unaffected after copping a bullet in the shoulder! On a bus at one stage a woman is wearing an explosive vest. Even though she's wearing clothes over this vest, it's glaringly obvious she's wearing it...but no-one notices. On this (full) bus it's also pretty silent, and Jackson talks to Danny about the explosive vest in a loud voice. Any bystanders with ears would be able to hear them. But there's no panic...apparently no-one hears them. Everything is normal. During the climax, there's a conveniently-placed swimming pool on the roof of a tall building right below a malfunctioning helicopter containing the hero who's in peril with his girlfriend. Such contrivances are difficult to digest. All things considered, 12 Rounds is a pretty moronic action film.

The film's intensity is further diminished by John Cena's charisma-free acting. His career as a wrestler for the WWE prepared him for roles in which he can take physical punishment, but his acting skills are not up to scratch for the rest of this Die Hard clone. His character's girlfriend has been kidnapped, yet Cena never seems too concerned about the whole situation as his facial expressions are hardly convincing. He's the Jean-Claude Van Damme of the PG-13 generation - an action hero with a bulky physique who's let down by poor vocal authority and the inability to convincingly act. Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson lit up the screen with unbelievable chemistry and explosive intensity in Die Hard: With a Vengeance, whereas Cena and those around him are just too dreary. To the wrestler's credit, however, he does remain watchable.
Gillen tries his best to channel Hans Gruber from Die Hard, and the results are somewhat underwhelming. His role of Miles Jackson isn't particularly frightening with messy hair, a wispy beard and a very plain outfit...he's more of a coffeehouse folk singer than a criminal mastermind. And Ashley Scott as Danny's girlfriend is more of a function in this story rather than a flesh-and-blood character.

Back in the early 1990s, 12 Rounds would've been a top-notch, R-rated action movie featuring someone like Bruce Willis or Sylvester Stallone. In 2009, however, this is just a PG-13 rehash of every action movie of the last decade starring a pseudo action hero. It's pretty much a mosaic of every customary '90s action movie plot element. Smooth-talking Eurotrash villain? Check. Cat-and-mouse game? Check. Kidnapped love interest? Check. Hero precariously hanging off of various vehicles? Check. If you can cope with the shaky camera work, the rapid editing and its derivative nature, 12 Rounds is an entertaining, chest-thumping thrill-ride, particularly if the side of your brain that does all the thinking craves a rest.

5.2/10