12 Rounds 3: Lockdown

WWE wrestler Dean Ambrose won his first ever WWE World Heavyweight Championship this past Sunday at the 2016 Money in the Bank PPV. In celebration of that momentous feat, today I am covering his first ever lead role in the WWE Studios film that was released at the beginning of this year with 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown (trailer).

There is a part of me that ponders why WWE keeps their film division going. Nearly every WWE film has pretty basic plots with nothing too involving and a lot of their films seem like a throwback to the old TBS Movies for Guys who like Movies pick of the night I referenced here before. The WWE films division has been operating since 2004, and after a couple of theatrical flops it quickly shifted to a more profitable direct-to-video format. Another part of me ponders why I keep watching almost every single WWE studio film. I usually rent the latest disc from Netflix, but I actually enjoyed the past two 12 Rounds films that featured John Cena and Randy Orton overcoming 12 challenges from the film’s villain so they can win back a loved one.

I never caught a preview for the third film and just presumed I was going in with the same premise, but this time with Dean Ambrose in the lead role. Instead, Lockdown redefines 12 Rounds as being the amount of bullets in a magazine clip that Ambrose has as he is locked down in his own police station with a bunch of corrupt cops that he must take down with just one magazine clip and his own crafty brand of MacGyver-know-how.

The film starts with the corrupt cop Tyler Burke (Roger Cross) and his squad of fellow crooked officers breaking in and stealing a bunch of data and executing their former associate. Little did they know their former associate had a backup file that Dean Ambrose’s character, John Shaw stumbles upon back at the station. Upon realizing this, Burke and his goons evacuate the station and lockdown the station with just them and Ambrose. They have a few hours until SWAT arrives to get to Shaw, and the only weapon Shaw has on him is his pistol that has just 12 rounds in it.

I blame myself for not checking out a preview before going into this to get caught off guard with this not playing out like the previous films, but once I realized what was transpiring I ended up digging the new theme as I was having a good time counting down the bullets Shaw was using throughout the film and how he was making every bullet count and finding alternate ways to take out the bad guys. There are a couple of intense firefights in here as Burke’s guys are chasing Shaw throughout the film and I like how they found a couple creative ways for Shaw to stay on the run.

For being his debut in a major film, and a lead role at that I actually dug Ambrose’s acting chops in here. He plays a much more relaxed, reserved character in Lockdown that is a 180 from his loose cannon counterpart he portrays on WWE TV. He will not be winning any prestige acting awards rest assured, but he manages to blend in well with the rest of the cast and seems comfortable in his role. The majority of the cast is mostly a bunch of Hollywood veterans from minor TV and film roles. The only ones I really recognized were Roger Cross from his 24 and Arrow days and longtime character actor, Lochlyn Munro from a handful of his many bit parts he was in over the years.

There are only two brief extra features on the BluRay of Lockdown. Resourceful Adversaries is a quick five minute piece interviewing the cast and crew setting up the premise of the film. Filming a Firefight is a six minute feature breaking down one of the intense shootouts I mentioned above and is a more interesting watch.

Like the rest of the WWE Studios productions, 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown is rather straightforward. I got what I expected out of this direct-to-video action feature, and it actually was a pretty decent pallet cleanser from a couple of more involving films I saw at the theater recently. Lockdown is most likely not must-see material for most if you are looking for top-notch action films, but if you are planning a movie night, and need a serviceable, quick film to turn your brain off and recharge inbetween more involved films, than Lockdown perfectly suits your needs!

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

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12 Angry Men (1957)
21 Jump Street
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
Dirty Work
Faster
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
Ink
Man of Steel
Marine 3 & 4
Mortal Kombat
The Replacements
Rocky I-VI
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Source Code
Star Trek I-XII
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
Veronica Mars
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Days of Future Past