12 Rounds – Blu-ray Review

 

The Flick

How hard can a flick that proudly sports the WWE logo and features wrestling superstar John Cena rock?  Pretty darn hard.  Going into 12 Rounds I expected a smoldering pile of poo, but to my surprise the flick held my interest, was a lot of fun, and introduced me to a new action hero. 

Cena plays Danny Fisher, a New Orleans police officer that chases down an arms dealer Miles Jackson (Aidan Gillen) on foot (said arms dealer is in a BMW) and brings him to justice.  Only the arms dealer’s girlfriend is killed during the pursuit, an unfortunate accident that makes him extremely mad.  One year later Miles escapes and pulls Danny into a dangerous game of cat and mouse that uses the streets of New Orleans as its game-board.  Danny must complete 12 Rounds of death defying tasks if he ever wants to see the love of his life again. 

If your into explosions, and running, lots and lots of running, then it doesn’t get much better than this Michael Bay influenced bombfest.  Cena and Gillen inflict more damage on the city of New Orleans than hurricane Katrina did but it’s all in the name of good fun.  Director Renny Harlin provides viewers of his film with a pretty impressive blanket of dust, smoke, and fire.  I was impressed with the way the director stitched together all the action sequences. But it was Gillen that really sold the flick.  He was perfect as the flicks villain and while the rest of the cast was strong he outshines all of them.  Cena was pretty good as the super cop and I’m actually stoked to see where he goes from here.  

Overall, 12 Rounds was a fun ride.  It’s not going to win an Oscar but it is definitely a killer film.

The Blu-ray

Audio/Visual – This is an awesome blu-ray.  The flick looked spectacular on on my HD TV, the colors are brilliant and the sound is design is solid.  The 5.1 mix is clean and provides a really amazing experience for anyone watching it on a home theatre system.

Special Features

Disc 1

Theatrical/Unrated – There are two different versions of 12 Rounds on this disc, the theatrical cut, and the unrated extreme cut, which is supposed to be more extreme but truthfully wasn’t all that different from the theatrical cut except for a little foul language and maybe a little more smoke.  

2 Alternate Endings with Optional Commentaries – I’m thankful these alternate endings are in fact alternate because neither of them are quite as cool as the one that made it into the flick.  The commentaries were decent but not really necessary.

Streetcar Crossing: Film with Caution – This is a pretty cool feature that details the difficulties of shooting the incredible street car sequence.  I had a great time with this feature, it’s totally worth multiple viewings.  

12 Bonus Round Featurettes – A group of awesome short featurettes that cover different behind the scenes aspects of the production.  

Never-Before-Cena Gag Reel – This is a pretty standard gag reel.  Not my favorite feature on this disc but I’m sure Cena fans will dig it.

A Crash Course – This is pretty cool feature that focuses on the stunts that Cena performs in the flick.  

Round and Round with Renny and John – An interview with director and actor.  Not my favorite feature but still entertaining.  

Besides these solid features there are also Viral Videos, Unrated Commentary  with Renny Harlin, Writer David Kunka, and John Cena.  

Disc 2

Digital Copy of 12 Rounds – If your into watching movies on your computer or on portable media players then this might be for you, but in my book this is a pretty useless feature.  

The Flick: Rating:

The Blu-ray: Rating:

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