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.
2 Comments
05/29/09
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
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
There's nothing here we haven't seen before, the action is laid on thick and fast with plenty of explosions and car chases, making this Big Dumb Fun of the first order.
05/29/09
While the plot is completely daft the film is also engagingly diverting.
05/29/09
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
Skip the cop rot – it will damage your 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
Yet another American thriller with little to engage the brain.
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
It's either one of the dumbest films in world history, or a sly work of ironic genius. Either way, it's damn entertaining.
05/28/09
Hugely entertaining, fast paced and enjoyably old fashioned action thriller that delivers more explosions, chase scenes and action sequences in one film than in the rest of the summer blockbusters put together.
05/28/09
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04/23/09
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04/23/09
...only tension, not suspense.
04/09/09
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
Harlin shakes the picture around as if he and the camera were constantly bouncing around in the bed of a rattletrap pickup truck.
04/03/09
We all have our little fantasies. Some people focus on romance, some on money, some one exotic locales.
04/02/09
It is hard to know what is more depressing--the fact that Harlin is now reduced to making vanity projects for the WWE's film division or the fact that he can't even seem to pull something like that off anymore.
04/02/09
A graceless scrap between a Die Hard flick and the public-transportation mayhem of Speed.
04/01/09
Adrenaline packed from beginning to end.
03/31/09
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:
Critics Consensus: Monsters vs. Aliens Is A Blast
This week at the movies, we've got a war of the worlds (Monsters vs. Aliens, with voice work by Reese Witherspoon and Seth Rogan), a demonic abode (The Haunting in Connecticut,... More...
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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