Who would have thought several years back that one of the
biggest stars in movies would be a wrestler from the WWE? Most people thought
of wrestlers as little more than muscle bound oafs with nothing going on except
their next gig. The truth of the matter is that these members of sports
entertainment do more acting in one day than many professional actors making it
to the screen. So for myself I found it not too surprising that some would make
it in movies. The Rock has done it rising to the top of the action film scene.
John Cena was heading that way but seems to have disappeared. Battista has done
one movie and is scheduled for another big screen film. And now they can add
the name of Randy Orton to the list.
Orton stars in the just released 12 ROUNDS 2: RELOADED. Cena
starred in the first film in this series where for one reason or another a
criminal forces our hero to run through a gauntlet of 12 obstacles to save
someone he cares about. It would have been odd for the same character to do so
again so Orton gives us a new hero.
Orton stars as Nick Malloy, an EMT who witnesses a car
accident while walking with his wife. He tries to save a young woman injured
but knows there is no hope for her. Rescuing the young man whose car ran into
the other, he saves him. But it's the loss of life with the woman that plagues
him.
A year later and Malloy and his partner are called out to
help someone at a remote location. When they get there they find a man with his
mouth taped shut and something inserted into his stomach. Malloy's phone goes
off and a man tells him to get out of the ambulance and move away, threatening
to harm his wife if he doesn't do so. Malloy realizes he is being watched by
things the voice says. When he hears something odd in the ambulance he tells
his partner to get out but not before the bomb planted inside the victim
explodes. Malloy's partner is injured but alive and the voice instructs Malloy
to follow instructions to the letter, sending him off to a new location with
only so much time to make it.
Eventually, as with the previous film, we have a villain who
wants revenge for being wronged. In this case, and no this isn't a spoiler
since we got lots of this in the trailer, we discover that the woman who died a
year ago was his wife. Now he's taking revenge on everyone involved in the
incident, from Malloy who failed to save her to members of the justice system
who allowed the young man who rammed them to skate off with a slap on the wrist.
Going from one location to the next, Malloy must not only
follow the instructions given (which of course include not calling the police)
but try and solve the puzzle of who is giving the instructions and why. We
viewers might realize early on but those in the middle of things are hard
pressed to find answers right away. The villain moves Malloy to a point where
he must take along a young man he's led to with him to the next stop.
This turns out to be Tommy, the young man who killed his
wife.
But the revenge doesn't just involve these two. Along the
trip the villain takes them down they find several others who failed to serve
justice in this case, everyone from a judge to a defense attorney. No one will
escape the wrath of this bad guy. With the clock ticking and 12 different goals
to achieve, will Malloy be able to find out what is going on and save his wife,
held hostage by this man?
The movie is quite well made with a technical quality some
wouldn't expect to find in a modestly budgeted film. The acting by all on board
is kept in check and Orton, while being his first time out, does show great
potential to be another break out star as long as good projects continue to
come his way.
While Oscar contenders won't lose sleep over films like
this, movie fans will have something worth renting or buying the next time they
go out. It delivers the action on all counts and makes an enjoyable film worth
watching.
Click here to order.
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