When a sports star makes a movie you expect lots of action, in "12 Rounds" you get lots of that, though you get little else. That's not to say this is a bad movie, it really isn't. But Hollywood has this idea that an action movie with a buff star would be more of a draw to America then an action movie with a real believable plot line.
Detective Danny Fisher (John Cena) is on duty one night when the FBI is trying to capture one of it's most wanted. A nearly untraceable international terrorist named Miles Jackson (Aidan Gillen). Danny and his partner, Officer Fisher and his partner Hank Carver (Brian J. White) spot a women that looks like the girlfriend of the terrorist. He has escaped because he knew of the undercover sting from the beginning. Pulling the car over Hank goes up and talks with the woman, Erica Kessen (Taylor Cole) while Danny stands behind the car, telling Hank to have the woman open the car's trunk, hearing this Miles pops the trunk from the inside and opens fire on the two officers. Danny gives chase - on foot - and catches up to the car, Erica and Miles jump out of the car and start to run away, Erica is hit by another vehicle and is killed, Miles blames Danny for this.
Jump one year later and Danny and his girlfriend, Molly Porter (Ashley Scott) live together, Molly is a nurse and because Danny caught Miles he and his partner were promoted to detective. Miles breaks out of prison and kidnaps Molly on her way to work, calling Danny, he tells him that they are going to play twelve rounds and if Danny is still standing at the end, he will get Molly back alive. Hampered by the two FBI agents who let Miles escape in the first place, Danny finds that looking for Miles will be harder than he first thought. Special Agent George Aiken (Steve Harris) has a more personal reason for catching Miles, he was the lead Agent on an earlier case where Miles used a stinger missile to blow up an airplane. The second Agent Ray Santiago (Gonzalo Menendez) is a little more friendlier towards Danny.
Danny is first called by Miles after Molly leaves for work, Danny running outside to stop Molly is knocked to the ground when his truck explodes, seconds later his house also explodes. Miles tells Danny that he has now lost the first two rounds. Round three has Danny running to his brothers fire house. Danny is told to answer a certain cell phone when Miles calls, getting to the firehouse Danny hears a phone ring in a nearby cell store, going inside Danny answers the phone and is told that at a building that is now burning, Danny will find two safe deposit boxes, one with information the second with a bomb. Getting to the building Danny runs up the stairs and grabs the boxes, jumping into a fire truck Danny drives to a dock where he throws one of the boxes into the water where it explodes. The second box when opened contains information that leads Danny to a hotel across the city. Once Danny and the FBI arrive they find the room where Miles and Molly were. Looking at surveillance tapes Miles is seen holding a sign that says we are still here. Finding an employee walking with Miles on tape, Willie Dumaine (Peter Navy Tuiasosopo) is a security guard who tells Danny that Miles wanted to inspect the service elevator.
Willie walks with Danny to the elevator, both guys get on and Willie starts the elevator up. During the trip they find a small machine where Danny sees Molly reading a note that within sixty seconds the elevator will drop to the ground, Danny has to save himself but also try to save Willie, who by the way is a HUGE man. Danny climbs through the escape hatch but has a hard time pulling Willie up, getting him on top of the elevator takes almost all of the sixty seconds but Danny is able to grab onto a screen and holds out his hand for Willie, the cable's blow and the elevator plummets to the ground. Moving through the city Danny is told to get on a bus, Miles and Molly are also on the bus, Miles has Molly wired to blow up and tells Danny not to do anything stupid. Agent Aiken tries to set up Swat snipers to take Miles out, seeing this Danny grabs Miles just as the window explodes, Miles gets off the bus with Molly and Danny, who is so upset punches Aiken in the face. Now refusing to work with Agent Aiken, Danny and Agent Santiago go after Miles. After the bus episode Danny is given a piece of paper with five phone numbers on it, he is told to call one, if he picks the right number Danny will be given more information, if he picks the wrong one the call will set off an explosion. Danny picks one and Miles informs him that there is now a trolley heading into a small crowd with no brakes and no way to communicate this. Danny and Agent Santiago drive off to stop the trolley, just being able to stop it before it does real damage, Danny feels elated.
Danny's Partner Hank is searching for people who can help them find Miles, there were several people involved in the prison escape who are looking for Miles as well. Hank goes to the home of one man, when the man walks away from the building Hank follows him into a factory and we all know it's a trap, when Hank gets upstairs the man gets the drop on Hank but unknown to both men, Miles has rigged the building to blow up, Losing his partner now makes Danny even more eager to stop Miles. Figuring out what Miles wants takes not only Danny but both FBI agents, who are now willing to work together to stop Miles, Seeing that Molly is an important part to Miles' plan Danny figures out that he should be running to where Molly works, not to where Miles says she will be. Of course the whole days events are a precursor to a robbery, Miles knows that after Katrina new rules have been implemented and Miles has done everything to ensure that these rules will be set in motion.
I give 12 Rounds a 2 and on my avoidance scale a 0, go see this film and enjoy it, the summer blockbusters will be here soon enough. Of course the hero wins and the bad guy gets what he deserves, life can take anyone in any direction, make one mistake and your a bad guy. Although Miles makes all of his choices freely, why can't we ever feel for the bad guy? Why does the good guy always win? Can American movie goers accept the good guy falling short? Still all in all this is a very entertaining movie, John Cena may be the next IT man in Hollywood.
12 Rounds is rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Violence and Action
Running time is 1 hr. 48 mins.
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