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12 Rounds ***
THERE was much speculation in our minds when my fellow critic and I learned the title of the preview on 30 September, 12 Rounds.
Twelve rounds of what? Boxing? Wrestling? Well, it turned out to be neither of those or anything else we could think of, except it related to wrestling in a way, as the star of the film was John Cena a well known TV wrestler. We seem to be seeing a lot of wrestling stars making films these days.
However, the main theme behind what turned out to be a classic police versus FBI suspense thriller, was revenge.
Danny Fisher (Cena) in the course of his police duties kills the girlfriend of a criminal, Miles Jackson during a fire fight with Jackson’s gang who have stolen a load of diamonds.
Jackson is arrested, tried and convicted and sent to prison. When he’s released he revenges himself by kidnapping Fisher’s girlfriend, Mollie and then, via the ubiquitous cellphone giving Fisher a series of clues to find her before Jackson murders her.
Fisher is sent all over New Orleans in pursuit of the timed clues. As a further cruel refinement he has to reach the location he’s sent to find in a certain time frame or Mollie dies. A real cat and mouse situation you would think. Wrong! The script is so full of million kilometer-wide holes and O.P.S (Oh! P-u-r-r-lease syndrome) that I became bored with it.
The writers and director forgot one of the golden rules of making a suspense film: — To give the audience enough information to keep them guessing and hold their attention so they believe they can unravel the twists and turns of the plot.
12 Rounds was so busy trying to be clever, it forgot that we need to be thrown the occasional genuine fish amongst the red herrings. Thereby capturing and holding our attention. There was unnecessary sub-plot confusion too, in which the FBI mixed it up with the New Orleans police department.
The main fault was in the writing. The film was just an excuse for Cena and the rest of the cast to indulge is some fairly spectacular stunts and for the SFX (Special Effects) team to enjoy themselves.
Don’t expect a gripping story. I found my mind wandering a third of the way through.
Take cool drinks, sweets, crisps and your cell phone to this one, and don’t expect a good performance from Cena. He can’t act his way out of a paper bag and the other actors are just as bad, presenting cardboard characterizations. I felt sorry for all of them, they had no help from the script or the direction. Everyone was badly let down by a weak, predictable poorly written script.
If you like plenty of action, see 12 Rounds. But if you favour a good story, good direction and acting, give it a miss.
A middling three stars are awarded for some good action stunts and SFX.
Theatre News
Reps Theatre has a full calendar until year end, with lots of great entertainment in store for local theatre goers.
Starting this week on the Reps main stage is Broadway Hits and Musical Bits 2, a fun song and dance show directed by Debbie Fleming. She staged the first show by that name back in 2005, to critical and box office acclaim, and she now brings back the format with a new cast of over 30 and a new set of songs from stage and screen.
Debbie’s shows are always full of energy and bounce and this one is likely to again be popular with audiences of all ages. New faces and familiar personalities take to the stage for this one, with a huge variety of numbers that range from time-honoured musicals to theme songs from recent hit movies.
The production has a preview session on Thursday, which is free for all pensioners (7pm start). It then opens on Friday October 16 and runs for only a week, finishing on October 24. Performances are at 7pm each evening, with two additional matinees at 2.30pm on both Saturdays of the run. Booking for this is already open at The Spotlight.
Debbie Fleming is an actress-singer-dancer-choreographer-director with a string of credits at Reps and elsewhere to her name. Her most recent performance was as one of the leads in The Mamma Mia story at Rainbow 7 Arts.
Also showing at Reps this week is a double feature called One Act Wonders. This features two one-act plays staged at the recent national one-act festival, both of them winning awards.
The first is We Need A Man, directed by Sue Bolt and featuring five female performers — Fiona Garrity, Sue Evans, Philippa Johnston, Vanessa Vos and Colleen Hardy. The second is Joining The Club, which is having a reprise after being staged a few months ago.
It stars George Gukuta and Fadzisai Gukuta, was directed by Michelle Mesley and won best production award at the recent festival, which was held in Masvingo. Both plays are highly amusing and well-written.
In November, the annual Stars of Tomorrow production will be staged by National Ballet/Dance Trust of Zimbabwe, and included in this run is a one-night performance on Sunday
November 15 called Simply The Best, which will be a variety show co-ordinated by Eve Stranix and featuring singers and dancers – all fundraising for Reps.
Coming up later in the year, and now in full rehearsal, is the Reps 2009 pantomime, Sing A Song Of Sixpence, being directed by Graham Crutchley. This will run from December 1 to 19 and features a huge cast in what promises to be another delightful family piece to get everyone in to the holiday spirit this festive season.
A new year show is also being staged, as a follow-up to several year-end fun pieces staged in recent years by Linda Hyde. This one is entitled Flying Circusesssses and, as the name suggests, has a Monty Python theme to it.
Major plans are being made for the succeeding 14 months, a period known at Reps as the 50/80 celebration. On January 13 2010 Reps Theatre will celebrate its 50th anniversary while on February 17 2011 The Repertory Players will celebrate their 80th anniversary, so in between these two dates is scheduled a selection of dramas, comedies and musical shows – both Reps production and hires – that will serve as a celebration of the country’s leading theatrical venue.
BY SUSAN HAINS
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