’12 Rounds’ (2009) Movie Review
Professional Wrestler, John Cena plays Officer Danny Fisher who is upgraded to detective when he brings down one of the most notorious criminals, Miles Jackson (Aidan Gillen) who’s wanted for murder,hijacking,illegal explosives. The list goes on and on. Danny chases his girlfriend’s car down by foot when he discovers that he’s hiding out in there. He finally creates a diversion which causes them to crash. When he tries to make the arrest, Erika (Taylor Cole), Mile’s girlfriend tries to run off and gets killed when hit by a passing SUV. They arrest Miles,but he doesn’t forget what happened to Erika, and vows to get revenge on Officer Fisher.
Now one year later, Miles breaks out of prison by causing a huge diversion. Danny, now a detective has no clue until Miles calls him up on his cell phone. He kidnaps his girlfriend, Molly (Ashley Scott) and tells him that he wants to play a game called, “12 Rounds” which consisted of him blowing up Danny’s house with the plumber still inside,setting a bank on fire with bombs inside,strapping a bomb on Danny’s girlfriend, disabling the breaks on a train, and a couple of other devastating acts which Danny had to stop in order to get the clue for the next round or watch his girlfriend die.
With the help of the FBI, Danny is able to get through all of the rounds, and complete the crucial final round which all the past rounds provided a clue for. They all really lead up to Miles wanting to steal a large sum of money,and Molly was used as his distraction. Danny was able to figure this out,and find his location where the exciting final showdown began. It ended great with the heartless,criminal, Miles Jackson going out in flames with a dose of his own medicine by blowing up in a helicopter while Danny and Molly jump to safety.
My Take : Even though this was sort of a remake of John Cena’s other movie, “The Marine”. I still loved it . It had action,drama,suspense,excitement,and even a little bit of comedy. Although, I had to shave points off for uniqueness, the build up was very good and all the sequences flowed together nicely.
I think John Cena is made for these types of action / suspense type movies. You can just feel his intensity,and get a real feeling that he is really trying to save his woman which makes it quite enjoyable. He really makes you root for him as he tries to figure out how to get through all the rounds, and then beat the crap out of the criminal. Speaking of criminals, I thought Aidan Gillen did an excellent job playing Miles Jackson. It was very convincing, and you could really feel the heartlessness of his character come through.
I recommend this movie. It’s an excellent action,drama film. Hey, John if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it right ? You can do all the movies you want like this. Just change the plot up a little bit,bring the same intensity, and I’ll watch it. I ain’t ashamed.
Grade : A
Movie : 12 Rounds
Release Date : March 27,2009
Studio : 20 Century Fox
Cast : John Cena, Steve Harris, Ashley Scott, Aidan Gillen, Brian White, Gonzalo Menendez
