12 Rounds 2009

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: There's something strangely charming about films that are all artifice, explosions, and naked calculation. 12 Rounds is at least honest trash: It never pretends to be anything other than manic schlock. Read more

Tom Russo, Boston Globe: Time for a revenge game cribbed right from the Die Hard series (and directed, hardly coincidentally, by Renny Harlin, who's an awfully long way from Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger here). Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: Director Renny Harlin keeps the wall-to-wall action hurtling along at such breakneck speed, that it's not hard to get swept up in the crash-and-explode craziness of it all. Read more

Clark Collis, Entertainment Weekly: Harlin makes good use of both the architecture of the city and of his formidably muscled leading man. But you will probably find yourself praying for this duel's knock-out punch to arrive long before it actually does. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: The future of vacuous action movies is clearly with the likes of Cena, humans who resemble characters from video games, albeit without the acting chops. Read more

Leigh Paatsch, New York Post: A big, dumb lug of an action movie, 12 Rounds is fronted by a big, dumb lug named John Cena. Read more

Nathan Lee, New York Times: Renny Harlin's 12 Rounds satisfies, on the most primitive level, the expectations for a second-rate action flick. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: 12 Rounds is an occasionally exciting but always empty action movie experience. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: 12 Rounds is the unholy stepchild of Die Hard with a Vengeance and Speed, starring a man whose lack of range makes Steven Seagal seem nuanced by comparison. Read more

Drew Toal, Time Out: Read more

Tom Huddlestone, Time Out: There's a decent little action movie somewhere inside '12 Rounds': a bit more complexity of character, a few more jokes and a hero who doesn't look like a two-by-four with a buzz cut might have gone a long way. Read more

Rob Nelson, Variety: Heavy on stunts but light on plausibility, humor, surprise, visual ingenuity or psychological depth. Read more