So last night I watched straight-to-DVD action thriller 12 Rounds 2 Reloaded, the sequel to the film (12 Rounds) of the gameshow (The Phone) of the film (Die Hard 3), this time starring WWE wrestler Randy Keith Orton as a paramedic caught up in a psycho’s twisted game in order to save his girlfriend.
The first one (starring WWE star and rap artiste John Cena) was a promising idea and certainly quite action packed but whilst the central conceit is quite entertaining about halfway through the ideas become rather less compelling.
Structurally the sequel is very similar to the original, but I think it’s markedly improved as a film, and suspect the writers have a much better grasp of reality game formatting to underpin everything and as such doesn’t feel like it runs out of entertaining ideas about halfway through. Again the central protagonist must take on 12 rounds of tasks set to them on the phone by a mysterious all-seeing bad guy once again building to a climax with devastating consequences. There are car chases and fighting and explosions and betrayal and sugar, and it hangs together much better than you’d expect if you a) saw the first one and b) were watching a straight to DVD release.
It’s not Die Hard, but I think you’d be entertained.
For those interested, the USBB twist this year is that there will be three nominees each week instead of two. HOH picks two of them, but each week the home audience will vote for an MVP. That winner gets the third nominee pick- and they make their decision in secret, and do not have to reveal their status, so the paranoia factor could increase even more…Plus this gives the HOH winner a better chance of having to break ties since there’s a lot more ways the vote could be split. 16 started this year.