Renny Harlin – the big Finnish director of various action movies and the odd horror – is sometimes lumped in with the hacky likes of Brett Ratner and McG, as someone who likes to blow stuff up good, who lacks a true visual signature, and who – perhaps more importantly – is a bit pants.
But we have a soft spot for the big man. After all, he directed Die Hard 2: Die Harder, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Deep Blue Sea and our personal favourite, the awesome Mindhunters. And so he really doesn’t deserve this – he’s directing a movie with WWE favourite, John Cena.
The movie in question is called 12 Rounds, and will star the charisma-free wrestler – whose first film, The Marine, isn’t even so-bad-it’s-good – as a New Orleans cop whose girlfriend is kidnapped. Needless to say, rather than go through official channels to find her, while filing a lot of paperwork, Cena decides to go rogue and starts killing lots of people in an attempt to win her back.
It all sounds like it could be harmless, brainless fun, but the budget - $20 million – indicates that the days when Harlin would be handed sacks of cash to blow stuff up are long gone. Which means that we’ll never get anything as good as that moment with Sam Jackson and a shark, or Christian Slater and a canister of liquid nitrogen again. Sad times, indeed.
12 Rounds will be produced by WWE Films, along with Fox Atomic. Filming starts later this month on location. If you’re in the area at that time and you hear a loud, accented wail of despair, don’t be alarmed.