The latest movie from the WWE stable is a grab-bag of 1990s high-concept plot tics, centred around the likeable lunking presence of one-time World Wrestling champ John Cena, looking like Schwarzenegger and Mark Wahlberg’s love child and dressed like Keanu in Speed.

Cena is honest cop Danny Fisher, inadvertently responsible for the death of the girlfriend of arms dealer Miles Jackson (Gillen).  Busted out of prison, Jackson seeks revenge on Fisher by setting him a series of fiendish puzzles at different points around the city.

This entails Cena having to negotiate a lift rigged to blow and plummet earthward, drive a speeding fire-truck really fast lest the bomb on board go off in a crowded area and stop a subway train while a supporting character tracing a lead stumbles into a bomb rigged building.

The psycho genius is smarter than everyone else in the film and appears to give himself up at one point and kidnaps the hero’s girl (Scott) and plans to leave her in different pieces...

12 Rounds is good, old-school action fun. Granted, its natural home is on telly with a different kind of six-pack to complement Cena’s, but director Harlin refuses to let the pace pause for breath, and the cast are clearly having fun.

Rob Daniel