12 Rounds 3: Lockdown is just another bad direct-to-video flick but worse yet, it’s not even a fun bad, just plain bad. The acting is wooden especially on the part of Dean Ambrose who shows no charisma to play the lead and the fight scenes were poorly choreographed. The Blu-ray is rather basic with two thin featurettes, so-so video and adequate audio transfers.
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
(2015)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Action
Lionsgate | R – 90 min. – $19.99 | December 22, 2015
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** Click Here to Purchase 12 Rounds 3 on Blu-ray from Amazon.com **
THE MOVIE – 1.5/5 |
| Detective John Shaw (DEAN AMBROSE) has returned back after being shot on the job, an incident that also resulted in the death of his rookie partner. Shaw’s old partner, Detective Burke (ROGER CROSS), is a dirty cop and along with a few others dabbles in drug dealing and other crimes including outright murder after taking down an associate who had incriminating photos on the unit. What Burke didn’t count on was this associate had a backup of these pictures on a flash drive which was found during examination and logged into evidence.
Shaw suspects Burke of murder, for which Burke was heralded as a hero and the shooting justified, Shaw looks at the file of the incident and sees the flash drive had been logged so he retrieves it and views the incriminating photos and documents on it. Burke gets word about the drive so he mobilizes his crew back to retrieve and destroy it but discovers Shaw checked it out and as Shaw won’t give it up, Burke and company go to extreme lengths to take him out by pulling the fire alarm, clearing the department and locking down the facility including taking out phone lines and jamming cell reception.
With only 12 rounds in his magazine, hence the title and referred to throughout the film (“8 rounds, 6 people”), Shaw must outrun and outwit the flurry of gunfire aimed his way and when he’s framed for murdering a fellow officer, a part of Burke’s crew, the situation becomes direr as his superiors on the outside believe he has gone rogue. So now Shaw picks them apart one by one while also avoiding the cameras as one of Burke’s goons is in the security office relaying Shaw’s location. 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown is a ridiculous movie but not in the good, B-movie kind of way. The dialogue is downright awful, the acting is at best subpar and the plot paper thin. Add to that, you have one of the dumbest action heroes in modern history who seemed to spend more time picking up his gun off the ground than actually firing it, not to mention being so attached to the gun versus gathering up an arsenal of weapons from those he had killed, more oft semi-autos, not that it would’ve mattered as it didn’t seem anybody had very good aim until opportune moments call for by the half-baked script. Dean Ambrose is, laughably anyway, is no Jon Cena. Heck, I don’t feel he has the charisma of Randy Orton, star of 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded which in itself was hardly a great movie yet still competently bad, but held some entertainment value, versus this third movie which is just downright terrible. Roger Cross who I recognize from his days on “24” and a stint on “Arrow”, is a one-dimensional villain but considering everything, I guess he was the best thing about the film (?).
12 Rounds 3 was helmed by Stephen Reynolds who I guess does the best he can with what he has to work with between the script and wooden acting but this is another poor and altogether forgettable entry right along with The Marine “franchise” and a cheap cash-in for fans of the WWE. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.25/5 |
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This release comes with a glossy slip cover. Inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. Resourceful Adversary (4:55; HD) – This basically breaks down the plot for 12 Rounds 3 and the options our hero has to take down the bad guys. Filming a Fire Fight (6:10; HD) breaks down how one of the gunplay scenes was shot. |
VIDEO – 3.25/5 |
| 12 Rounds 3 shoots its way onto Blu-ray presented with a 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. Detail on this movie is at best muddled; some shots look decent enough while others are on the fuzzy side with heavy amount of grain and noise presumably courtesy of the type of digital camera used. Colors generally are also lacking though given the majority takes place in a darkened environment, backlit with exterior spotlights, it’s no big surprise that it doesn’t have that pop of color. |
AUDIO – 3.75/5 |
| The film has been given a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which is good but not exactly extraordinary. The depth is OK but sadly for an action-oriented flick, it’s not terribly dynamic though dialogue levels, unfortunately, are crisp and clear throughout while the action sequences, not to mention the generic score, make use of the front and rear channels. |
OVERALL – 2.0/5 |
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Overall, 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown is just another bad direct-to-video flick but worse yet, it’s not even a fun bad, just plain bad. The acting is wooden especially on the part of Dean Ambrose who shows no charisma to play the lead and the fight scenes were poorly choreographed. The Blu-ray is rather basic with two thin featurettes, so-so video and adequate audio transfers.
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Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.