Powerful

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

When a madman kidnaps a young boy and rigs him with explosives, Ray defies his captain and takes matter into his own hands. Now he must beat the clock and save the innocent child. Countdown was mostly packed with WWE Wrestlers trying to act and beating up bad guys than being an actual good and entertaining flick but i will admit i do admire the fact that at least Kane tried a bit to do something different after those terrible 'See No Evil' flicks but i'm sorry Dolph Ziggler is no John Cena or even at least as amusing and cool as The Miz. (3/10)

"Turistas" director John Stockwell delivers an improbable but entertaining action thriller "Countdown" that qualifies as a genuine guilty pleasure. This WWF financed abduction opus concerns a mad Russian bomber who has strapped an explosives device to seven-year old child and demands a bundle of dough for his life. "Countdown" generates a sufficient amount of suspense and tension despite some uninspired performances. The derivative Richard ("Expendables 2") Wenk and Michael ("November Man") Finch screenplay manages to create some white-knuckled excitement as an iconoclast Seattle detective, Ray Fitzpatrick (Dolph Ziggler), scrambles against the clock—about five hours or so—to locate the adolescent against nerve racking odds. Stockwell proves himself a fair hand at staging the action with some competence. "Countdown" could have been twice as pulsating in the hands of a director like either "Bourne Supremacy" director Paul Greengrass or "Nightwatch" helmer Timur Bekmambetov. Make no mistake, Stockwell doesn't malinger, but "Countdown" should have been an exercise in white-hot mayhem. Indeed, towards the end, Stockwell succeeds in ratcheting up the pace. "Pound of Flesh" lenser Cliff Hokanson captures the action from evocative camera angles, while composer Claude Foisy accentuates the pace with a sizzling orchestral score. The cast struggles to convince us that they are the real thing. Given several years, Ziggler could develop into a capable actor. In the meantime, he handles the demands of the physical action with just enough verve to compensate for his superficial acting. Ziggler surpasses his pedestrian but attractive co-star Katharine Isabelle who isn't believable at all. Glenn 'Kane' Jacobs musters more credibility as Ray's superior. The opening scene is somewhat interesting because our audacious detective shoots his undercover partner to make a believer out of the arms dealer that he is trying to bust. Altogether, "Countdown" contains enough kick and tick to land somewhere between routine and above-average. The Seattle scenery is a feast for the eyes.

There are many words to describe this film, but the one I decided to use is goofy. The word cheesy would be equally as appropriate. It is an action flick brought out by WWE studios and stars Nick Nemeth as Detective Ray Fitzpatrick racing desperately against time to locate a kidnapped child before a bomb that has been strapped to the child goes off. In the process he must battle against Russian mobsters, corrupt Russian Embassy Officials and his own colleagues (surprisingly not Russian). As is often the case with such action movies there is a suspicion that the detective is in fact the one responsible for the child's kidnapping as his own son was accidentally killed by a drunk police driver and he never received compensation from the city. This accusation however gives him the chance to escape forcefully from a police station full of cops trying to stop him. Joining him on his frantic run through mayhem is officer Julia Baker (played by Katharine Isabella). She in fact is responsible for his suspension at the start of the movie and investigation into his barbaric tactics but obviously through the course of the film she realizes that Detective Fitzpatrick is an honest cop trying to do the right thing whilst evading his colleagues and the mob. In the process detective Fitzpatrick storms into the Russian consulate, overpowers the security and tortures one of the staff there who is secretly dealing explosives on the black market. And all that without causing an international incident. There are also gun fights, car chases and some wrestling moves thrown in for good measure. And at the end the hero obviously saves the day. The pros of this movie are that it's mildly entertaining In a leave your brain at the door type of way. There is action obviously and it's not too badly done. The cons however are the weak and clichéd storyline and the nonsensical flow of the movie. It seems to try to hard to insert various plot lines in order to make the movie seem deeper than it is. So overall a 4.5-5 out of 10. Could have been better though.

"We have a bomb strapped to a kid somewhere in the city that only an unidentified dead man knows the location of, and we have 6 hours and 42 minutes to find him." Ray (Ziggler) is a detective who hasn't been the same since he lost his son. He keeps crossing the line and is finally facing suspension. When he finds out that a young boy has been kidnapped and strapped to a bomb he ignores his suspension and sets out to find him before its too late. Now, facing a deadline Ray and IA officer Julia Baker (Isabelle) put their differences aside in order to save the boy. This is a movie that has a great plot, it is very tense and exciting to watch it unfold. The one thing it is missing are the actors to really pull off the drama needed. Going in, since this is a WWE movie that is to be expected but it still seemed to hurt the movie. That said though, this is perhaps the best WWE movie to date. Overall, a movie with a great and tense story that actually makes up for the lack of dramatic acting and is actually pretty good in spite of itself. I surprisingly give this a high B.