Escapist fun that provides an effective showcase for the blue-collar charisma and bulky good looks of its hyper-athletic lead, four-time World Champion wrestler John Cena (think Matt Damon, only twice the size).

Derivative it may be, but with its echoes of "Speed," "Lethal Weapon" and "Die Hard With A Vengeance," this is a welcome throwback for audiences raised on '90s action flicks -- what they used to call "a pulse-pounding roller-coaster thrill-ride of a movie."

There's something strangely charming about films that are all artifice, explosions, and naked calculation. 12 Rounds is at least honest trash: It never pretends to be anything other than manic schlock.

This is the kind of amiable time-killer that belongs on a basic-cable weekend afternoon.

You will probably find yourself praying for this duel's knock-out punch to arrive long before it actually does.

I defy you to hate John Cena. Really. You can try all you want, but I don't think you'll make it.

As one of the WWE's marquee pro wrestlers, John Cena is some actor. As a straight actor . . . he's a great wrestler.

Noisy, cut into a head-snapping blur with little room for Cena to even try showing emotion, 12 Rounds is an occasionally exciting but always empty experience.

There are, as you may have guessed, 12 rounds of this arbitrary nonsense. Annoying as the conceit may be, it neatly functions as a means to gauge how much is left to endure.

It's not fun and it gets tiring real fast.

12 Rounds is the unholy stepchild of "Die Hard with a Vengeance" and "Speed," starring a man whose lack of range makes Steven Seagal seem nuanced by comparison.

Cena is no Jason Statham. His stolid seriousness sucks the life right out of any scene in which he's required to speak. It's a bad sign when you repeatedly wish a runaway trolley would silence the hero.