July 4, 2009
Review - " 12 Rounds " - (on DVD) By Roland Hansen
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1. the bad guy takes Fisher’s house!
2. the bad guy takes Fisher’s woman!
If only I had tests like this in life where the first two problems were solved by the examiner! The explanation for there
being 12 rounds specifically, is not explained adequately. It is because some guns hold twelve rounds? Does the director
only play 12 rounds of golf? Who knows? In fact, who really cares at this point?
John Cena is adequate as a lead character. Unfortunately it takes about 20 minutes before you realise who our protagonist
is to be. Perhaps it is the flamboyant use of shaky cam or the fact that the director focuses on every single character on
screen initially. This technique could perhaps be congratulated if it wasn't for the overall confusion. After about 27 minutes
the story begins which makes you wonder why it didn't start from there in the first place (and play the lengthy beginning, in
flashback).
Make no mistake, 12 Rounds is not going to be liked by everybody. In fact it feels as if it is geared towards only one
specific group of people: young teenage boys who have never seen Dirty Harry, any of the Die Hard series or Speed. It is a
partial success at filling these shoes. I say “partial” because I’m being polite. What I really mean is that 12 Rounds is
nothing like the aforementioned classics. It does have a certain charm though.
Sadly it was decided that John Cena's character be accompanied by whole police divisions and various other emergency
services. Die Hard 1 and 2, Dirty Harry and Speed worked because of its “lone wolf” dynamic. Even in Die Hard: With a
Vengeance and Die Hard 4.0 Bruce Willis only had one sidekick (Samuel L Jackson & the Mac guy). John Cena’s Fisher
needs several departments assisting him. It would have been better if the department were chasing him and his original
partner was onscreen on a full-time basis.
Only a short time ago, if asked whether any wrestler could make a good actor I would have said “absolutely not”. In fact I
would have slapped you for asking such a silly question as Hulk Hogan has shown us that this was not the case!
Interestingly though Dwayne Johnson has shown that he really can hold his own. Perhaps he is not to everyone’s taste but I
dare you all to challenge his acting abilities in Southland Tales…I dare you! John Cena then, shows that he is on the way to
become a suitable action star (he certainly has the build). Perhaps he is not as charismatic as Johnson but I’m confident
that Cena has the ability to keep getting better and better. If only he had not started in what can only be described as a
copy/paste film!
When all is said and done though, 12 Rounds is a
watchable film. Unfortunately it is a story that has
been told before, by many people and a lot better.
It is only a truly recommended film if you haven’t
seen any of the films mentioned above…and if
you haven’t, you may want to rent them instead!
Unfortunately I have seen all of the above mentioned
films and can only compare this, to them. What with
with bomb-on-bus style sequences and a bad guy
who looks and sounds like an Irish Ed Norton on a
bad hair day, I wasn't so impressed!


12 Rounds
Directed by Renny Harlin
Starring: John Cena, Aiden Gillen, Ashley Scott, Steve harris, Brian
White
Unfortunately you may notice from the synopsis that it bears a striking
resemblance to "Die Hard: With a Vengeance". If you are going to follow
in the same path of a specific type of film then it is always best not to
copy it. Otherwise there would be no point in bothering!
Detective Danny Fisher (John Cena) accidentally causes the death of
Megan Fox and this pisses off Edward Norton, or at least some Irishman
who resembles Edward Norton named Miles. So three years later Ed
Norton's evil twin resurfaces and kidnaps Danny's girlfriend, Danny boy
will have to successfully complete 12 challenges in order to secure her
safe release. We’re looking at a "Die Hard With a Vengeance". All I can
say is thank god, John McClane didn’t have to deal with all this cell
phone bullshit and got to race to public payphones and all of that
excitement. And of course in the end Miles really doesn’t care about
revenge. He’s in it for the money. As shown in a series of last act
flashbacks. Miles attempts to steal a shitload of money from some U.S.
treasury, totally taking advantage of Katrina or something by breaking
into a temporary treasury storage center. Everything else was just a
distraction. Now c’mon that’s the whole Die Hard playbook.
Let’s get one thing straight! 12 Rounds is not about a detective having
to pass through 12 problems or puzzles. Danny Fisher actually only
storms through 10 of them. The first two are simply:
