12 Rounds Review...

Usually at any given day, I would had avoid any WWE (that wrestling organization formerly known as WWF before that panda organization sued them and had their name changed) produced film like a plague. That is because I always strongly believe that wrestling should be the only thing that this company should solely keep their hands on and nothing else. Don't believe me? Look what happen to the previous ventures of the then-WWF in the form of XFL (an American Football league that wants to compete with the NFL) or the World Bodybuilding Federation. Both of them went bust and the most of their movies sucked badly (with the exception of the Scorpion King which I think was pretty decent).

"I am gonna make 5 more movies!!!"

So enter 12 Rounds. When I first heard about it my first reaction was that it is so gonna suck as I thought that it will end up like The Marine (a movie which I sadly watched on the bus on my way to Mersing). As the release date of the movie draws near, something from the poster caught my eye. "From the director of Die Hard 2 and the producer of Speed" both of which happens to be two of my favourite action movies of all time (the 1st being Terminator 2, if you had to ask). So instantly my feelings towards this movie had transformed a 180 degrees from a no-fucking-way-I-am-gonna-watch-this-shit to a I-think-I-should-give-John-Cena-a-2nd-chance.

Thankfully, that initial feeling of avoiding this film was a wrong one....sort of. If there's anyone who knows how to make an action movie, that will be Renny Harlin. After all this guy made so many memorable action flicks but unfortunately, a great director can only do so much if the script suck... horribly. The whole movie is full of bad lines, bad one-liners and a bad story to build-up the action. The story seems to be ripped totally from Speed, Cliffhanger and Die Hard 3. Remember that great elevator scene from Speed? It's there. That "HOLD MY HAND!" scene at the beginning of Cliffhanger? It's there as well. And how about that whole "Simon says mind-games" plot that was the core of Die Hard 3? Sad to say it's the core of this movie as well.

My movie was ripped... Whoa~

Another aspect that this movie had totally neglect, is a need to cast a kickass villain to torment the hero. Instead of getting some kickass villain they have to opt for some unknown actor who can't say.... ACT! Listen WWE, the next time you can't find an awesome actor to play your villain, just grab one of the wrestlers from your roster. I can imagine HHH, Jericho, Randy Orton or heck even Edge could pass off as that villain anytime.

Despite the shitty script, the bad acting and the copy cat storylines there is still some good left in this movie. The action sequences are the only thing that kept this movie from sucking and that should be solely be credited to.. no not Cena, but the director himself. Most of the action sequences at the 2nd half of the movie are well nicely done with some of them being quite breathtaking which was enough from making this movie another crapfest I had the "honour" to watched for the nth time within these two months.

Any lesser director would had made 12 Rounds into this shit-fest

Final verdict? 6.5 out of 10. A decent enjoyable flick if you can totally ignore all that stupid lines spewed out from the characters and just watch the awesome action scenes. How about Cena's acting you ask? Still wooden as like he is cutting a promo in the ring after all he ain't no The Rock or Steve Austin.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Watchmen Review)

A long long time ago I came upon an article regarding the graphic novel a.k.a comics for adults called Watchmen. In that article, it sang praises after praises about this short series and how it was the only comic book to ever made it into the Times 100 list of best novels.

Curious as I were, I embark on an internet journey to obtain a copy of this series just to see how amazing this mini-series (12 books in total) of a comic book was. Upon reading the first book, I was hooked and within a day, I had finished the whole series and was totally swept away by the complexity and the awesomeness of the story. Coincidentally, a few days later, which happens to be right after the success of 300 by director Zack Snyder, the movie to Watchmen was announced. I was thrilled and worried at the same time. One part of me was thrilled that just shortly after completing my best comic book story of all time, a movie of it was announced! While the other part of me was very worried how a story so complex as Watchmen could ever translate into 2 to 3 hours of screen time? After 2 years of anticipating to finally watch the movie, fortunately my worries are unfounded.... almost.

I was glad that this movie do not deviate much from the comics. Which remains faithful for the most of 90% of the story. Heck, even the cinematography tends mimic nearly frame by frame of the comic book maybe save for the fight scenes which were way more awesome then the ones in the comics. If there's any Oscar for "Most Faithful Adaptation" category, Watchmen will certainly win the lifetime achievement of this category.

Unfortunately, despite the story being almost faithful to its source material, this movie is hampered by its inability to capture the feeling of most of the key moments of the comic book (see the SPOILERS section for a full list) and also care to explain in detail some important scenes.

So what's my final verdict of this movie? A solid 8.5 out of 10. Another solid comic book adaptation with some minor flaws here and there but still an overall highly watchable film.

P.S: The ending of this movie is quite "profound". Some people might not get it and it will ended up hating the movie. Another note is, if by the halfway mark of the movie and you still go asking "what is this guy's superpower?" to your friends, do yourself a favour and leave the cinema.





RANTS (SPOILERS ALERTS)
The attempted rape of the Silk Spectre I by the Comedian was one of the most iconic moments of the graphic novel unfortunately the film fails to capture this moment.

No details were fleshed out regarding the Keene Act which outlaws "costumed heroes" from fighting crimes.

How Ozymandias' pet which is a successful crossbreed of several felines were not mentioned but instead left the movie-goers confused on what the hell is that think.

Night Owl 2's impotence (sexually) and how he got his mood back is not described in detail.

Ozymandias is way to skinny and frail compared to his comic counterpart.

The plot which Ozymandias hatched to create a peaceful world was actually through a genetic engineered alien-looking gigantic squid to make people believes that it was an alien invasion but in the movie it was something that mimics Dr. Manhattan's power.

Unmasking of Rorschach which was one of the graphic novel's greatest moment happened just like that in the movie. No build-up whatsoever.

How Dr. Manhattan changed his mind to finally interfere into helping mankind was not well done.