# 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown - Blu-ray Review



## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=61705[/img] 
*Title: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown* 

*Movie:* :3stars:
*Video:* :4stars:
*Audio:* :4stars: 
*Extras:* :1.5stars: 

*HTS Overall Score:*71




[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=61713[/img]*Summary*
“12 Rounds” was a rather mediocre thriller that was nothing but a vehicle to get John Cena into the spotlight as an action star after his mild success with “The Marine”. Strangely enough the film gained enough profit that WWE films decided to keep the franchise going by casting Randy Orton as the next cop on a mission to save someone. This time it’s nothing but a rehash of “12 Rounds”, and a BORING one at that. “12 Rounds 3: Lockdown” actually breaks from the mold and changes up the game quite a bit. This time, there is no “game” that the hero has to play to make it out alive as an evil mastermind terrorizes him along the way. This time it’s basically a remake of “Die Hard” with a good cop locked in a police station with a bunch of corrupt cops and only 12 rounds in his Sig P229 .40 cal (thus the name “12 Rounds”) to keep him alive. Is it exactly original? No, most definitely not, but it actually is a decent action movie in the DTV market and was (dare I say it) actually better than the first movie which actually GOT a theatrical run.

Detective Shaw (WWE star Dean Ambrose) has had a bit of a rough few months. Coming off of paid leave for accidentally getting his rookie partner killed 7 months ago, Shaw comes from the frying pan back into the fire. While he’s a bit shaky coming out of the gate, his first day backs nets him the deal of a lifetime. His old partner, Burke (Roger Cross) has been running drugs out of the precinct and Shaw has the evidence in hand. The only problem is, Shaw has a bunch of dirty cops on his payroll and will stop at nothing to get back that evidence before it’s too late. After locking down the building, Burke unleashes the full power of his dirty squad upon the honest cop and things are about to get messy.

Shaw has never been one to take things lying down, so it comes as no surprise when he decides to NOT roll over and die for Burke and his crew. With only 12 rounds in the chamber of his Sig service weapon, Shaw wages a one man war against his captors, in much the same way that John McClane went up against Hans Gruber in “Die Hard”. Guns, knives, explosions, fancy cars and even more blood, “12 Rounds 3: Lockdown” manages to keep the action working enough overtime to compensate for the poorly written dialog and semi decent fight choreography. 

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=61721[/img]Now, I am not saying that “12 Rounds 3: Lockdown is as good as “Die Hard” due to my comparisons. I wouldn’t go that far to even compare the two besides the obvious plot similarities. However, WWE films has actually crafted a semi decent action movie here! I mean, usually their films are rather lackluster and devoid of much intelligence, but I was pleasantly entertained throughout. Dean Ambrose isn’t half bad as Detective Shaw, and while he’s no professional actor, I’ve seen much worse come out of the wrestling leagues on screen (Mike the Miz and Randy Orton come to mind). It also helps having a decent array of TV actors to fill in the bad guy roles. Roger Cross plays the same intimidating and creepy head villain as he does in “Continuum” and acts as a very nice foil to Shaw’s personality. Using a Kimber 1911 chambered in .45, his obvious excesses work well as he gleefully empties mag after mag through the police station in his hunt to track down Shaw.

While it most certainly is a serviceable action film, there are still plenty of dumb DTV tropes throughout. We have everything from cops knowing how to hack networks, Shaw counting how many rounds he has left every 10 minutes, the blatant advertising of certain guns (even going so far as to have Burke running around with a multi thousand dollar pistol that very few police departments would even let him carry), down to just plain moronic movies made by both good guys and bad. You can’t have a low budget DTV action movie (especially one from WWE films) WITHOUT cheese and stupidity, so I can’t blame them toooooo much, but still I have to point out the obvious. 



*Rating:* 

Rated R for violence throughout and a scene of sexuality/nudity


*Video* :4stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=61729[/img]“Lockdown” comes to Blu-ray with a very solid 1.78:1 encoded Blu-ray that does what it can with a low budget type of filmmaking. The digital cameras used are capable enough and show off some very nice detail a lot of the time. There is a little bit of noise in the low light action sequences, but it’s never really bad, or anything. Instead it’s just something that catches your eye every once in a while. Blacks are good and show off some nice shadow detail, but I did notice that the whole image looks a bit too contrasty at times, which lends itself to washing out some of the blacks and giving the film a gauzy look. Colors are mostly slate blues and greys, but there are splashes of primary colors here and there. Think the opening sequence with Shaw’s yellow charger, or the glimpses of bright red blood splashed across someone’s face. 








*Audio* :4stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=61737[/img]The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track fares about as well as the video does. It’s good, it pounds hard and makes for an aggressive action experience, just with a few flaws that keep it from greatness. The dialog is never in question, as it’s locked up in the front of the center channels and well balanced with all of the chaos and action going on around them. The LFE is tight and pounding, adding a nice low end to the tense score as well as adding impact to the firearms. Surprisingly, the handguns don’t sound ridiculously overpowered and sound like a howitzer cannon, but instead are rather realistically light and popping. While I’d like to say that his was because they were being a stickler for accuracy, but it was most likely due to budget concerns. Surrounds are good, but surprisingly light, only bleeding in a few ambient sounds as well as the aforementioned score. It’s a good track, one that does what asked of it, but doesn’t ascribe to be something better than it is. 






*Extras* :1.5stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=61745[/img]
• “Resourceful Adversary” Featurette
• “Filming a Firefight” Featurette
• New From Lionsgate










*Overall:* :3.5stars:

“12 Rounds 3: Lockdown” doesn’t really reinvent the wheel. In fact it really just remakes a classic film with a DTV budget. However, the good thing is that it does it semi well, especially considering the niche studio that WWE films is and the normal quality they usually churn out. It’s cheesy, it’s dumb, and the effects aren’t the greatest, but I was engaged the whole time and actually had a good time after I checked my brain at the door (and let myself just drool over some of the REALLY nice guns the main characters were carrying. I may not like a .40 caliber P229, but a 9mm Sig P229 9s DEFINITELY in my future if I get this thing called cash again). Audio and video are pleasant and while there is minimal extras, I don’t think that anyone is going to bemoan the fact that there is not more behind the scenes and commentary type extras to go into for a film like this. Nice “check your brain at the door” rental for action junkies. 

*Additional Information:*

Starring: Dean Ambrose, Roger Cross, Daniel Cudmore
Directed by: Stephen Reynolds
Written by: Nathan Brookes, Bobby Lee Darby
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: R
Runtime: 90 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: December 22nd 2015




*Buy 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown On Blu-ray at Amazon*




*Recommendation: Rental​*








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