This big-budget action thriller excels at dishing out a plot that's a bit like a chess game on speed.
9 Comments
03/14/09
12 Rounds (2009)
28
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:64
Fresh:18
Rotten:46
Average Rating:4.4/10
Consensus: Energetic but empty, 12 Rounds' preposterous plot hurtles along at a rapid pace, but can’t disguise the derivative script.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Mar 19, 2009 Wide
US Box Office: $12,220,258
Synopsis: Finnish director Renny Harlin (CLIFFHANGER, DIE HARD 2) brings first-time screenwriter Daniel Kunka’s story to life in the fast-paced action film 12 ROUNDS. When New Orleans police officer Danny... [More]
Starring: John Cena, Aidan Gillen, Ashley Scott, Steve Harris
Director: Renny Harlin
Reviews for 12 Rounds
Top CriticIf you leave your brain in neutral, you should have a fairly enjoyable ride.
03/20/09
Top Critic12 Rounds has some great action scenes and intensity but is killed by a horribly written script and ending. I would still recommend a rental.
03/27/09
Director of Photography David Boyd should be slammed against a wall by star John Cena and bitch-slapped until he cries like a little girl.
04/04/09
Director Renny Harlin keeps the wall-to-wall action hurtling along at such breakneck speed, that it's not hard to get swept up in the crash-and-explode craziness of it all.
03/30/09
Top CriticAdrenaline packed from beginning to end.
03/31/09
Fun, witless and pretension-free, 12 Rounds is Die Hard meets Saw meets WWE: pure chest-thumping testosterone cinema, edited like a jackhammer and delivered at thrash-punk velocity.
05/29/09
Assuming that audiences are dumb enough to pay money for a movie that should've premiered on Spike TV is the worst kind of cynicism. Don't fall for it.
03/27/09
This ain't the real 12 Rounds. Not the actual movie. It's more like a storyboard. Or an animatic. That's it. Just to give you an idea of what the real movie's gonna look like. Man, you're gonna love it, I swear.
03/30/09
Click to read the article
04/23/09
Cena's stiff manner barely matters in 12 Rounds, in which he plays a cop rather than a fighter, because this is all about big explosions.
05/29/09
As brain-off Friday night entertainment, it almost suffices – but only because the quality of brain-off Friday night action has been lowered so significantly in recent years.
05/29/09
Yet another American thriller with little to engage the brain.
05/29/09
Cena has neither the ease nor the appeal of Dwayne Johnson – the one true Rock – and the film's steroidal pastiche of 1990s thrillers (Speed and Die Hard with a Vengeance) is faintly embarrassing.
05/29/09
Click to read the article
04/23/09
With its wonderful post-Katrina NOLA setting and the standard stunt spectacle as only Harlin can deliver, 12 Rounds is actually quite good. It's no masterpiece, but then again, few post-millennial adrenaline rushes have been.
07/04/09
With wrestling powerhouse WWE producing, chances are the statement, "Guys, this just doesn't make any sense," never came up during a script meeting. I can't fault 12 Rounds for being dumb. However, I will criticize 12 Rounds for being awful.
03/27/09
It's Sudoku. With corpses!
03/27/09
The lack of new ideas might not matter if the puzzles were fresh or entertaining, but they aren't. Director Renny Harlin has made enjoyably daft movies before, including Cliffhanger and The Long Kiss Goodnight, but here he fails to set our pulses racing.
05/29/09
Harlin makes good use of both the architecture of the city and of his formidably muscled leading man. But you will probably find yourself praying for this duel's knock-out punch to arrive long before it actually does.
03/30/09
Latest News for 12 Rounds
May 31, 2009:
Five Favourite Films with Renny Harlin
Finnish director Renny Harlin has one of the most schizophrenic CVs in movie-dom. He's directed some of the most beloved action films of the last 20 years, including Die Hard 2,... More...
March 30, 2009:
12 Rounds Star Wants Jericho Film Trilogy 
In a recent interview, 12 Rounds actress Ashley Scott chimes in on rumored plans to bring the cancelled CBS sci-fi show Jericho to the big screen. In short, she's in -- how's a... More...
March 26, 2009:
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March 26, 2009:
Box Office Guru Preview: Monsters vs. Aliens Ready For Mighty Attack
Ginormica and her mutant pals look to seize control of the North American box office with the animated 3D adventure Monsters vs. Aliens which will try to overtake a group of... More...
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