Cop goes '12 Rounds' with terrorist
Renny Harlin, who hasn't had a hit since he divorced Geena Davis, was the right guy to lift World Wrestling Entertainment's infant film division to something closer to legitimacy.
Renny Harlin, who hasn't had a hit since he divorced Geena Davis, was the right guy to lift World Wrestling Entertainment's infant film division to something closer to legitimacy.
If anybody could shoot and cut an action film to hide rassler John Cena's lack of Actors Studio training, it's the director who made Sylvester Stallone look like a mountain climber in Cliffhanger.
In 12 Rounds, Cena is positively Matt Damonish as a cop battling an Irish terrorist who's snatched his girlfriend.
Cena plays Danny, a beat cop who runs down a terrorist the FBI has lost, and is promoted to detective for it. A year later, the bad guy escapes from a Florida prison and traps Danny in a "12 round" rematch with the one fellow who bested him.
Danny is sent hurtling through New Orleans, wrecking stuff, saving (or not saving) innocent bystanders, trying to stop a streetcar not named Desire.
Noisy, cut into a head-snapping blur with little room for humor, or for Cena to even try showing some emotion, 12 Rounds is an occasionally exciting but always empty action-movie experience.
12 Rounds ** (out of four stars)
Directed by Renny Harlin. With John Cena, Aidan Gillen, Ashley Scott, Steve Harris
Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Parent's Guide: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action
Playing at: Area theatersEndText