Movie Kumite: 12 Rounds 3 vs. Countdown
The Battle of Ohio has been played out on the football field for years between the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals. But for the first time in history, The Battle of Ohio will be decided as part of our cinematic slugfest known as the Movie Kumite.
Representing Cleveland in our battle will be Nic Nemeth, or as he is known to millions of fans around the world, Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler made his acting debut earlier this year in the WWE Studios film Countdown. Representing Cincinnati will be Jonathan Good, or as he is known to millions of fans around the world, Dean Ambrose. Ambrose made his acting debut last year in the WWE Studios film 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown.
We’ve got two great Ohio cities. Two great Ohio born professional wrestlers. Two first time action movie stars. But there can only be one winner…
THE HEROES
The great thing about casting professional wrestlers in action movies is they are ready for whatever physicality you want to throw their way. So in that regard both Ambrose and Ziggler excelled as John Shaw and Ray Thompson respectively. But personality wise, I feel like the loner Shaw character was more of a natural fit for Dean Ambrose. The Ray Thompson character didn’t really tap into Ziggler’s personality traits. Ziggler, who dabbles in the world of stand up comedy, would be a better fit in movies with more of a Beverly Hills Cop vibe and not a straight up action flick. John Shaw was the better of the two characters and Ambrose was a better fit to play the character. This round goes to 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown.
12 ROUNDS – 1 COUNTDOWN – 0
THE VILLAINS
To me this was an easy decision because looking back at Countdown I could barely remember anything about the villain. But I distinctly remember Tyler Burke, the head of the dirty cop ring that Shaw was going up against in 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown. Burke was played by Roger Cross. Cross brought a great deal of acting experience to the table and out of both movies competing in our Battle of Ohio Movie Kumite, his performance stands out the most in my opinion.
12 ROUNDS – 2 COUNTDOWN – 0
WOMEN OF ACTION
This is one area where Countdown would outshine 12 Rounds 3. Katherine Isabelle plays special investigator Julia Baker. Baker ends up teaming up with Ziggler’s Ray Thompson and is really an essential piece to the Countdown puzzle. If there was one missed opportunity in 12 Rounds 3, it was not utilizing the rookie cop Jenny Taylor character a little more. I know they wanted to paint Shaw as a true loner, but I would have liked to have seen more of a relationship blossom between Shaw/Taylor.
12 ROUNDS – 2 COUNTDOWN – 1
CAMEO BONUS ROUND
Countdown takes the action of the movie inside an arena setting where there just happened to be a live World Wrestling Entertainment event. This meant the opportunity for some cameos from some of Ziggler’s WWE co-workers. But the cameo of all cameos was when Rusev pulls a gun on Ray Thompson and Ray superkicks Rusev! Of all the WWE Studios movies I’ve watched, that was easily the most outlandish scene, but also one of the most memorable. 12 Rounds 3, with its Die Hard like scenario, really didn’t have the opportunity for cameos, so this was another easy point for Countdown and we are now tied up!
12 ROUNDS – 2 COUNTDOWN – 2
THE CRITICS
We turn things over now to two of the most respected movie related web sites in all of the Internet (the third most respected is Bulletproof Action of course) to help determine our winner…
Countdown received a 40% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown received a 53% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
IMDb has 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown at a 5.4 approval rating, while Countdown had an even 5.0 rating on IMDb.
This one is not going to go into overtime and we can officially declare 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown the winner of our Battle of Ohio.
FINAL SCORE: 12 ROUNDS – 4 COUNTDOWN – 2
My apologies to my fellow Clevelanders, but instead of focusing on this crushing Movie Kumite loss, we can always look back fondly on this moment…
