12 is an unusual British independent film in that it eschews the trend of most British movies having to be either costume dramas or cockney gangster films. Instead 12 is more in the tradition of classic martial arts movies, from Enter The Dragon to Kickboxer, the main idea being a tournament to showcase a number of styles and techniques featuring a cast of home-grown martial arts champions and UK action stars. 12 follows the story of twelve fighters, brought together to compete in an illegal underground tournament for the prize of £500,000. The fighters come from a variety of backgrounds, each hand-picked for a gruelling no-holds barred competition, intended to push each fighter to their physical and psychological limits. The fights are streamed on the internet and viewers can watch as the fighters live and train together. The fighters real names are not disclosed; instead they are given nicknames to describe their occupation or situation. They go by the names The Kid, The Homeless, The Triad, The Soldier, The Instructor, The Delinquent, The Ex-Convict, The Priest, The Police Officer, The Foreigner, The Model and The Teacher each with their own fighting style. A group of six businessmen and women stake their money and nominate two fighters each while determining which fighters will meet in the ring for each fight. Each fighter has their own reasons for competing and each give everything they have to take the prize, but there can be only one winner! The film is a simple, yet engaging concept. It wastes no time in setting up the tournament and introducing the characters as each fight progresses. It moves at a frantic pace and within the first 30 minutes of the film six fights have already taken place. The fights are gritty and realistic, some of which lasting only a matter of seconds before they are over, often with surprising and unexpected outcomes.
With each match taking place in a different location from warehouses to a church to a junkyard, the constantly changing backgrounds keep each fight fresh with a different look. There are a great number of differing fighting styles on display from Karate, Kickboxing, Tae Kwon Do and Capoeira to bare-knuckle boxing, brawling and wrestling. Also thrown into the mix are recent additions to the martial arts spectrum, Parkour or free-running and break-dancing hybrid, B-Boy dance fighting. Each fighter brings their own style to the ring and each match offers a new spectacle. The film is split into segments for each round, a total of thirteen altogether. With each round presenting further exposition about each fighter, fleshing out each characters back-story and providing reasons for their involvement in the competition. Filmed in a grainy colour, hand-held style mixed with occasional black and white CCTV footage from the supposed internet broadcast giving the film a very natural, realistic look. The film uses a fairly epic orchestral score from composer Stuart Hancock rather than going down the usual hip-hop soundtrack expected in this type of movie and I think it is all the better for it. 12 features a number of familiar faces from UK TV such as Eastenders, Minder and even an appearance from
Danny John-Jules, better known as Cat from Red Dwarf, playing the people behind the scenes of the tournament. The fighters are slightly less well known,
Mark Strange who also produces, 3 times World Kickboxing Champion
Nathan Lewis and
Joey Ansah lead the cast and between them have worked on a number of recent huge Hollywood blockbusters from Batman Begins to The Bourne Ultimatum. The DVD includes a number of special features first of which is a behind the scenes documentary lasting only 8 minutes but is better than the average with lots of footage taken from fight rehearsals and training sessions rather than just re-showing clips from the film, all interspersed with cast and crew interviews. The next extra is Anatomy of a Fight Scene; a 3 minute split screen comparison showing rehearsal footage alongside the finished sequence from the film. Also included are 12 deleted and extended scenes including 3 additional unused fight scenes. The remainder of the extras are more interviews as well as trailers, a photo gallery and production notes. I was pleasantly surprised by 12, I have to admit I did not expect much from the film but it is actually a very well made actioner that should please fans of old school, fight filled action movies. It moves at a tremendous pace and balances the story with excellent realistic fight scenes. The DVD is well presented with a reasonable selection of extras. The film may have been made on a low budget but it knows its limitations and does not compromise on character, story or spectacle. '12' is
available now on DVD.