What’s it about?
A young police officer named Danny Fisher in post hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is subjected to (funnily enough) 12 rounds of challenges involving lots of car chases, timers counting down, and potential explosions. Why? Well, a year ago, he may or may not have ruined Miles Jackson’s lifeand sent him to jail. After the first of many high speed car chases in the movie, someone dies who was close to Miles. He just happens to be an arms dealer.. He blames Danny, so one year later, after he escapes from prison, said arms dealer is determined to make the now Detective Fisher pay by kidnapping his girlfriend and holding her hostage until Danny completes all 12 rounds. So as a result we see John Cena running around New Orleans, trying to ‘win’ each round in order to save his girlfriend and send Miles back to jail.
Who’s in it?
Apart from WWE star John Cena, there aren’t any majorly big names attached to the movie. This is Cena’s second attempt at a leading man and both times it’s like he just stepped out of a Marine shaped cookie cutter. He’s stiff, and boring, you just don’t feel the same charisma that’s normally attached to his WWE character. His nemesis Miles is played by Queer As Folk veteran Aiden Gillen. Our main problem with him was the fact that he couldn’t decide whether he was Irish or American in this movie and that meant most of his sinister threats sounded like someone doing a bad impression of a leprechan.
What should I watch instead?
Speed
Die Hard 3
The Fugitive
Is it really that bad?
Well…yeah. You just don’t feel enough for any of the characters to care what happens to them. Especially Fisher’s girlfriend. The plotline itself is so coincidental and implausible that it requires a huge stretch of the imagination to even fathom a sense of realism. As for the ’rounds’ themselves, some of Miles’ despicable challenges are hilarious to watch, including one that basically wants to test if John Cena can pull a very fat man from a lift before it plummets however many storeys to the ground. Apart from that, most of the movie is spent watching Cena apparently do his own stunts, which you’d kind of expect from a wrestler… so that’s not even that impressive. This movie could have been good with some actual talent in the main roles, a few less car chases and some more engaging dialogue. We suggest you leave this one on the shelf for those die hard Cena fans and choose something a little more worth your own 12 rounds.
