Haters Please read

I couldn't have put it better if I tried. Nice post.

(though if you hated Marine just you wait for the sequel with Ted Diabese Jnr :-p)

I agree w/ Sono. I hate when I'm excited about seeing a film, come here to read reviews & ppl go over the top w/ it & say the most outrageous things, putting waaay to much on it! Sounding off like the man who killed their mama starred in the film or produced it. Wtf? And, knowing were not going to take that type of postings serious. Its like they jus come here to f(ukk) up a wet dream...earth-disturbers

Well said.

If an A-list actor took the project, it would have been overhyped beyond recognition. I remember when the movie came out, people were posting on here "I would not be caught dead watching a WWE film" or "Wrestlers should not act".

Let's not forget the plethora of movies starring random rappers, models, and Beyonce (not hating, just using an example). Yet, wrestlers are moreso actors they are. Wrestlers act every day of the week.

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OP your post is utter nonsense. I went to watch this film with no knowledge of who John Cena was or who was involved in the film. I went because the Hangover was sold out and boy do I wish I'd book in advance. This film is utter crap - it's not believable or engaging, it's embarrassing and half of it is like a parody of a *beep* action film or a looney tunes episode. I mean - why the *beep* are they having a birthday party on tram lines!??? And don't give me the "it's only an action movie" nonsense. Die Hard 1 is an action movie yet it's properly executed and so it's successful! Every genre has a good and a bad - Action, Romance, Comedy, Horror, Drama etc. This is bad SO BAD!!! And don't accuse us of snobbery - it's called having a brain.

"Why so serious?"

Like another poster, when you launched into ALLCAPS, I kinda lost interest in what you were saying. But it's okay, since I got the basic idea: You like the movie and can't abide someone else not liking it.

Okay.

I saw it last night. I'd wanted to see it since I saw a trailer for it a while back. The trailer made it look cool, full of action and suspense and it seemed like a pretty interesting plot.

As Riff said in West Side Story, "Boy, am I a victim of disappointment in you!"

The first ten or fifteen minutes, where they're building us up to the whole reason The Bad Guy is going to exact his revenge on The Good Guy, seems interminable. I mean, long. Endless. Boring, even. The ***SPOILERS*** FBI double-cross plot, double-crossed by their pawn, double-double-crossed by The Bad Guy..? *yawn* The heavy-handed foreshadowing of The Bad Guy's Girlfriend's untimely demise? *yawn* Am I really supposed to believe that he's such a great cop, such an amazing human being, that he can actually run through the back streets and alleys (and someone's house!) to catch The Bad Guy, who apparently is such a nimrod that he can't simply drive faster than The Running Cop and get out of this neighborhood? Please.

And then finally, thankfully, we're released from the clutches of this tedious pre-story into what I'd hoped would be some thrill-a-minute, pulse-pounding action, or at least some decent suspense, tension, something as a return on my investment. Sadly, it was more of a break-even payout.

John Cena isn't a terrible actor, but he's not a good one, either. It seems like he wanted to be a cross between Bruce Willis and Arnold Scwarzenegger, but he's simply not as cool as either one of them. He doesn't have much to hold the viewer's interest, unless an abnormally square jaw does it for you. He really just doesn't come across as anything more than a bag of muscles. Certainly not a cop, and only barely convincing as a man driven to rescue the woman he loves.

The Bad Guy's Game might have been interesting, except it's obvious to the viewer that The Good Guy will triumph (even if he fails at any one round of The Game) and that The Bad Guy has thought of everything (though not so well that he can possibly win The Game).

I'll say this much: The "twist" at the end (that is, the Real Reason The Bad Guy Is Doing All This) was a little unexpected, pretty well-played and sadly, in the end, predictably foiled by The Good Guy.

So yeah. It's really not that good. A rip-off of Die Hard 3, maybe. But seriously, it's just simply not that good a movie, even if you just take it for what it is. I like mindless action movies, but this one doesn't offer much to make up for its shortcomings. 4/10 at best.

And by the way, it's not snobs on this site that give movies like this a bad name. These movies do that by themselves. The snobs here give this site a bad name.

I don't care if a MAJOR film star starred in it, or not. The ever-so commonplaced scenerio of "I have your girlfriend/son/daughter/wife/etc. as a HOSTAGE AND WILL KILL THEM UNLESS YOU DO AS I SAY is very... well... COMMONPLACED AND BORING. The other one is... SAME MOVIE AS "DIE HARD: WITH A VENGEANCE" (more than one word, but my point is just that.) The two movies are alike in that the criminal diverts the LAW into doing things for the sole purpose of setting themselves up for the big sting. Been there, done that... just with different actors. And if George Clooney played in it, I STILL would have given it a VERY LOW rating.

"Ok so ask yourself why do you really hate this film. I'll tell you why 2 words and 3 letters.

JOHN CENA
WWE.

Why in gods name do people come on this site and say oh it was a rubbish film the acting wasn't up to scratch why? I'll tell you why because the majority of the stupid idiots that come on here think they film critics in the making who probably think by slagging off a film like 12 rounds you'll get noticed and hit the big time of journalistic reporting. ...................

C'mon though it's a mindless action film not an academy award winning feature, it's snobs on this site that give films like this such a bad name.""
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Umm. No. Because it sucked!!! I don't hate John Cena. He's just another action star to me. I'd rather give him a shot than sit through Steven Seagal's latest any day. His acting is no better or worse than The Rock's but he lacks Dwayne Johnson's charm. I think he can expect to have a movie career rivaling his wrestling peer. He looks like he puts some time into his movies and enjoys doing it. I rented this movie because I like Cena and figured he'd do a decent job in an action flick. (I never got to see The Marine).

Nobody cares that wrestlers want to become action stars now. Why shouldn't they? They're built for it and most of today's action movies are total fantasy and comic book stories. Just like WWE wrestling. Aside from bad acting, it's a no-brainer that pro wrestlers should be in movies. WWE wants in on the box office and I say, "let 'em in". They got the money to compete and the athletes and well-known personalities to attract the audience. They just need to work on that last word in their title: entertainment.

The problem with this film is the movie itself. The always inconstent Renny Harlin does a lousy job of throwing scenes together and going against continuity and stretching the boundaries of movie reality. Also the script and dialogue comes off so serious, so the movie ends up being unintentionally and embarrassingly laughable which is never good. At least, Die Hard with a Vengeance, which it rips-off so liberally, had some humor to take your mind off the implausibility of the action (alot of which still makes more sense than 12 Rounds). No one's expecting an Academy Award movie from a genre movie like 12 Rounds. Just entertainment.