Bullet Points: 12 Hours to Live
Having only twelve hours to live is not something I want to think about, but if you are going to twist my arm I would use it to watch action movies… family and friends be damned. I’ve seen plenty of the people I know and love, but not enough Ione Skye movies. 12 Hours to Live for the win.
- Dirty Dozen – Ione Skye stars as FBI agent Megan Saunders and we learn quite a bit about her through flashbacks. Kevin Durand is the next highest billed star and you don’t need to have seen the movie to know he’s the bad guy, it’s Kevin Durand. Also his character is John Carl Lowman, three names is a dead giveaway! We see Lowman kidnap a teenage girl, Amy (Brittney Wilson) real early on so at least 12 Hours to Live isn’t trying to trick us. We also learn Lowman killed Saunders’ partner (both professionally and romantically which isn’t very professional) and she has been tracking him down. Shit just got real.
- Bakers Dozen – If a kidnapped teenager is not harrowing enough, Amy has type 1 diabetes and she needs her insulin and/or glucose (one or both, I don’t know, I’m not a doctor) and without them she basically only has… twelve hours to live! I’m not excited about her being sick and potentially dying, but that is the name of the movie! My excitement dwindled when 12 Hours to Live missed a huge opportunity to have Wilford Brimley appear, the most famous diabetic I know (although a type 2 diabetic to be pedantic).
- A Dime a Dozen – 12 Hours to Live throws in a bunch of extra drama like the friction between the feds and local sheriff, a female FBI agent in a man’s world, and the unnecessary drama of Saunders dead partner, Mark Phillips, being the son-in-law of the head of the Chicago FBI office, Jack Bryant (Kim Coates, Officer Downe). Of course, Phillips was separated from Bryant’s daughter… this is too much drama. What is this, a Lifetime movie? Hold on a second. Crap, I got suckered into watching another Lifetime movie. Curse you, Ione Skye! Well, I have to finish it now.
- Cheaper By the Dozen – It now makes sense why the action is light and the drama is high in 12 Hours to Live, but dammit if I don’t want to see Amy make it out alive and Lowman get his just desserts. But wait, Lowman doesn’t want to see anything bad happen to Amy either. Am I starting to root for the bad guy? Nope he just killed a gas station worker. You better believe there is some action for the finale and you already know it is going to be a showdown between Saunders and Lowman. Who comes out on top? Dollars to doughnuts Ione Skye is going to come out on top. Remember, it is a Lifetime movie.
So if I only had twelve hours to live and I used it to watch 12 Hours to Live I wouldn’t be too upset. Sure it doesn’t have much action, but it has enough drama to fill up a Lifetime movie. Of course it was a Lifetime movie, but it also had Ione Skye and Kevin Durand. If I never watched 12 Hours to Live I wouldn’t have these 12 Hours to Live Bonus Bullet Points.
- Familiar Face – For most of the movie Megan keeps trying to call her father. Ol’ Michael Moriaty from Pale Rider and Q: The Winged Serpent shows up over 50 minutes in, but having seen his name in the opening credits, it was no surprise.
- Progresive Quote – “You got stones. I admire that in a woman.”
- Tool of the Day – Lowman wins Tool of the Day on the local radio station. “Put him in the toolbox.”
- Favorite Quote – “That guy has all the instincts of a blind squirrel.”