12 Rounds

12 Rounds is a by the numbers action film, only the director Renny Harlin can't count too well. He previously directed far superior films of this genre, including Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger, but of course he had much better scripts for those films, and proven action stars in Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone. In this film John Cena stars as New Orleans cop Danny Fisher, who has just managed to capture Miles Jackson, one of those sadistic, sophisticated and erudite international criminals who usually manage to show up in films like this. In the process though, Miles' girlfriend is accidentally killed and one year later, after escaping from prison and kidnapping Danny's live-in girlfriend, he devices a series of impossible tasks for Danny to complete. The failure to do so of course, will result in the unlucky girlfriend's death. John Cena is trying to follow in the footsteps of other athletes turned film stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steven Seagal and Jean Claude Van Damme. Unfortunately, Mr. Cena lacks the charisma and acting talent of all of these, and in the case of Mr. Seagal that's no mean feat. You'll be wishing for a knockout after the first round.

Rating - 1 1/2 Stars