Twelve
Directed by: Chee Keong Cheung Starring: Mark Strange, Nathan Lewis, Joey Ansah Synopsis: In unknown UK suburbs, an underground tournament is arranged to challenge twelve fighters from different backgrounds to compete for the sum of £500,000. They have been handpicked for a no-holds barred competition that will push each fighter to their limit. Each fighter has their own reason for competing, and each will give everything they've got to take the prize. Review:After the truly awful The Graves , I was feeling a little sensitive about reviewing another low budget movie that I knew nothing about. I’m also not a great fan of tournament movies having found Van Damme’s Bloodsport the definitive movie in this niche genre back in the late 80s! Well, I needn’t have worried. 12 is a remarkable movie that actually lives up to the hype already placed upon it by my peers. It’s a fast, and furious 90 minutes of mainly action and the more melodramatic moments serve to help push that story ahead even more. Normally in such films you just want to get to the fights, in 12 the background scenes set the tone of the characters and either give you some measure of sympathy or quite the opposite. 
The movie invites the viewer to make preconceptions about each of the characters as the movie progresses and unlike other films of its type, there is no clear character to root for. Using Bloodsport as an example, you know that Frank Dux is the protagonist with some of the peripheral characters being a mix of good guys. There’s only really one antagonist in Bloodsport. In 12, the lines blur.
I found the initial fights predictable, but shortly after they became anything but, with a few outcomes truly surprising based upon misconceptions on my part. The choreography is well done and the amount of quick edits kept to a minimum, thankfully. The acting on the whole is pretty good, and works well for the genre of film that it is. Sometimes, when fighters are employed to act they can’t handle the emoting and come across as wooden and unappealing. There is no such problem in 12. Leonard (Dr Legg from Eastenders) Fenton puts in a good performance as a Father sympathetic to fighters ambitions. I have to say that I thought his character was going to act entirely differently and that's all down to the quality of writing and the way some issues seem very ambiguous.
The only niggle that I can aim at the movie is that it doesn’t look great upscaled on a HD TV from a Blu-Ray player. In the grand scheme of things this was only a minor distraction and by no means spoiled my viewing.Summary: A good solid action movie that is deeper than expected, a little like Fight Night . Recommended to all fight film fans. 7 out of 10 (Wayfarer)New! CommentsHave your say about this! Leave me a comment in the box below. |
