Renny Harlin directed Die Hard 2 rather apt considering the plot for 12 Rounds borrows elements from its sequel Die Hard with a Vengeance.WWE wrestler John Cena plays a cop who arrested a wanted Irish terrorist and in doing so the bad guy's girlfriend gets run over by a vehicle.The said bad guy escapes prison and takes revenge on Cena by holding his girlfriend hostage and getting him to partake in various tasks if he wants to see her alive again.These 12 Rounds of tasks seem to make no sense at first. Cena has to get to one part of the city to another very quickly and in doing so he tends to hang around fretting and talking to the FBI officers who at first seem to be an obstacle. In fact you wonder why the FBI officers pursuing the terrorist were not on his hit list considering they were more responsible for him being arrested in the first place.Eventually Cena realises that he did once watch Die Hard with a Vengeance and figures that the bad guy may have an ulterior motive in his mission and it may not be just revenge because the tasks Cena has performed had some after effects which left parts of the city vulnerable.Harlin is a frustrating director and has been in a downward spiral for some years. This film has a good budget, some good action scenes and rather watchable despite some duff lines, poor plotting and ludicrous scenes. The finale was rather poor in my opinion but for Cena, at then new to movie action roles this was a decent starring vehicle and he was less wooden here than he was in The Marine.

Danny Fisher (John Cena) is a New Orleans beat cop who arrested master criminal Miles Jackson (Aidan Gillen). In the process, he kills the love of Miles' life, and Miles vows revenge. One year later, Miles escapes from prison, and kidnaps Danny's girl Molly (Ashley Scott). To get her back, Danny must follow Miles' instructions in a game of 12 rounds.It's a very derivative movie reminiscent of 'Die Hard: With a Vengeance'. John Cena seems like a perfectly reasonable cop character. He has reasonable charisma but he has a limited acting range. He can't add the much needed comic relief like Bruce Willis.Also there is just too much ridiculousness. The tests are ridiculous. The FBI agent played by Steve Harris is ridiculous. The problem is that the rounds get very repetitive with action splashed in every once in awhile.Is it a good movie? No, but I've seen much worst. The action kept me interested for about half of the movie. It's just too repetitive and one dimensional. There's a bit of fun action. If that's all you're looking for, this movie certainly has it.

Story/Plot - Officer Danny Fisher (John Cena) is picked up by his partner and they go about their daily duties, when they get called in to help find and apprehend villain Miles Jackson (Aiden Gillan). A chase is started and Danny catches Miles and his girlfriend, however his girlfriend runs and is hit by a passing SUV and is killed instantly.A year later and now Detective Fisher, Danny has to get the plumber over and the action begins. Molly (Ashley Scott) leaves for work, leaving Danny with the plumber. Danny's cell phone rings and on the other end is Miles who has managed to escape from prison and is on a mission. Molly has been kidnapped, Danny's house has been blown up killing the plumber and the start of a game has begun. A game of 12 rounds, each round Danny must succeed in order to see Molly again.As Danny progresses through the rounds, causing mayhem and the deaths of a few of his friends and colleagues, he suddenly realises that the rounds are set up to give Miles certain tools and aid to carry out a robbery from the federal mint. Now with this information Danny is on the hunt to catch Miles before he leaves the country and kills Molly. Miles forces Molly to fly a helicopter to aid his escape but doesn't count on her stalling and giving Danny the chance to jump onto the helicopter and subdue Miles. A fight on the helicopter ensues and the helicopter loses hydraulics. Who will survive...................................My verdict - A good action thriller with plenty of explosive action within. The stunts are realistic and the chases have that feel of reality to them. A must watch for any fan of WWE star John Cena and anyone who loves films jam packed with action and explosions.

If you're going to watch this movie, it will be to see vehicles crash into other vehicles and cause lots of damage. This movie does that very well. It will also be for the nonstop excitement in a number of scenes, including the thrilling runaway streetcar. And the suspense of wondering if Det. Fisher can complete each challenge in time, breaking all the rules along the way. He has so many challenges and each one just leads to another one, equally impossible.Sure, we've seen this sort of thing before, but if I enjoy the formula, so what?But this movie isn't without problems. Aidan Gillen didn't quite reach the point of being deliciously evil, though the potential was there and he achieved what I hoped for in a few scenes.And some of the writing was pretty bad. Cops are supposed to be smarter than this. FBI agents are supposed to be smarter too. One of the movie's final scenes had some of the most pathetic writing imaginable. But that's just the dialogue. The action in that scene was great.I was disappointed to see Steve Harris from the critically acclaimed "Awake" in this. He didn't add much. And by the way, that's not him asleep in that streetcar. I couldn't understand what he was doing there, given the urgency of the situation.With all the killing that takes place, the violence isn't graphic. You know people die, but you don't see the blood.I particularly liked scenes with Danny and Molly together when not trying to stay alive. One highlight is Molly trying to repair the plumbing and I'm not talking about her mechanical skills. These scenes had some funny lines, and as terrible as certain events were, the movie's last line was really funny.It was ... interesting.