12 Rounds (2009)
It’s Die Hard…
in New Orleans. In a weird twist of events this movie rips off Die Hard With A Vengeance instead of Die Hard. A villain plays a riddle game with a cop who’s guilty for the death of a loved one sending him all around town or else he will blow something up. Some sequences are on the other hand directly inspired by Speed; A bomb on a bus, a trolley that can’t stop and a high speed chase with a fire truck.
Is the main character an average Joe?
He’s Danny Fisher, a cop played by WWE wrestler John Cena. So while playing an average Joe he of course isn’t because average Joes aren’t this big.
Sidekick?
Det. Hank Carver (Brian J. White) is his black partner, just like John McClane had Zeus the store owner in Die Hard With A Vengeance.
Any personal problems?
He and his girlfriend have a quarrel just before she gets kidnapped.
Is the lead character there by coincidence?
He is the target of revenge, so no.
Are there any friends or family in danger?
Yes, his girlfriend has been kidnapped and is at one point even seen strapped to a bomb.
What’s at stake and why aren’t the authorities doing anything?
The life of his girlfriend, and of course in a ‘brilliant’ twist taken right from Die Hard With a Vengeance, money. The whole kidnapping thing serves as a masquerade to steal lots of money. The authorities are doing something. They’re helping Danny in every way they can but since he is personally addressed it’s up to him to stop the villain.
Any charismatic villains?
Aidan Gillen plays the villain Miles Jackson. He gets to play with a couple of accents and has almost as much screen time as John Cena. They display his brilliance by letting him walk past a chess game on the street and help one of the two guys out by instantly mention a couple of moves which will result in a checkmate.
Is it any good?
It surprised me that it even was a theatrical release. Renny Harlin is a veteran action director who just so happens to have directed Die Hard 2, and it’s his directing that brings some flair and slickness to the movie. But other than that the movie breathes DTV-quality and with an uncharismatic WWE-star in the lead who doesn’t even take his shirt off they could’ve gotten a better lead actor also. You can read my review here.
They are planning a remake, I would go for Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Joe Manganiello, Milo Ventimiglia, Tom Welling, Chris Evans, Chris Pine, Chadwick Boseman, Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Runner, Derek Theler, or D.J. Cotrona as Gabe Walker; and Billy Zane, Kevin Spacey, Dominic Pace, Alec Baldwin, Gil Banks, Hugo Weaving, Robert Knepper, Brian Van Holt, Travis Fine, Skeet Ulrich, or Dash Mihok as Qualen.
I think there is a way to improve The Taking of Beverly Hills, like instead an undercover Fed helped crippled a militia group and imprisoned many members including their leader. But the leader’s brother and a few members of the group plant bombs all over Beverly Hills, and threaten to set them off if the leader is not released, and the undercover fed seeks out the bombs while his partners buy him time.
Blast is good, but it would be worthwhile to note that, Agent Lisa Reed (Vivica A. Fox) finds out that Michael Kittridge (Vinnie Jones) is actually a mercenary named Skyler Talbot and had killed the real Kittridge and stole his identity to throw off authorities.
I would like to see Christmas Rush. Anyone know where to find it?
There are some sites that list it as streamable, but I don’t know how legit they are. If you own an XBMC player I would advise you to look on that network.
What is an XBMC Player? I have never heard of one.
In most cases they are mediaplayers running Android. Because they run Android they can download an app named XBMC from Google’s Play Store. XBMC allows you to search and stream movies
Don’t forget the other scenarios like Terminal Rush, Interceptor, Crash Dive, Counter Measures, 12 Rounds: Reloaded, 12 Rounds: Lockdown, Project: Shadow Chaser, Command Performance, Demolition University, Cyberjack/Virtual Assassin, Final Voyage, and Air Rage.
For Speed 2: Cruise Control, it should have been Direct to Video, and not a sequel to Speed. The lead villain should have been a pirate instead of soft ware designer turned mad bomber trying to blow up a ship.
Every time I see “Air Force One” I remember that in the Tom Clancy novels, the character of Jack Ryan becomes president. This film could have been part of the saga starring Harrison Ford, if he had continued it.