12 Hours to Live

the plot sounded good - but - this movie never got it going, totally unrealistic in some respects and the directing was terrible. what was that dripping faucet about? i think the writers could have done a better job. some of the script was positively corny. and so many lose ends - why bring things up and never go anywhere with them. what happened to bj? what's the story with her dad? maybe i missed something, but i honestly think it was the movie that missed everything. unless you are really bored - and i mean REALLY - i wouldn't waste my time watching this movie and i certainly would change the channel if i come across it again.

Yes, the script for "12 Hours to Live" is patched together Frankenstein-style from some of the oldest thriller tropes in history, but if you can get past that and some hideously over-directed flashbacks, the main part of this film is quite good. The plotting is coherent and believable, the human drama genuinely touching and the characters are multidimensional. Even the villain evokes pity and pathos instead of just being a stick-figure menace. The acting is also excellent, with Ione Skye as the heroine (an FBI agent with a personal as well as a professional interest in catching the bad guy) and Kevin Durand as the villain (a psychopathic criminal specializing in bank robberies and not sure himself, as he tells us in the film, why he does what he does) standing out. This one is well worth watching and several cuts above the Lifetime TV-movie norm for this genre.

John Carl Lowman (Kevin Durand) is a killer on the run. He has committed six bank robberies and killed a federal agent. He carjacks a car in the woods and takes diabetic teenager Amy Kennedy (Brittney Wilson) as his hostage. FBI Agent Megan Saunders (Ione Skye) takes on the case to hunt down Lowman who killed her partner. She finds that Amy needs an insulin injection in less than 12 hours or else she'll die.

The premise is a bland Lifetime movie retread. I like Kevin Durand. He plays a good psychopath. Ione Skye is an acceptable FBI agent, but she doesn't have the powerful presence needed to lead. The girl Brittney Wilson has limited acting skills. The writing lacks pace and intensity. The style and direction is strictly TV-movie level. There isn't really anything to recommend here.

In Belgarde County, in Illinois, the wanted criminal John Carl Lowman (Kevin Durand) runs out gas in an isolated area; he carjacks a car with a couple and kidnaps the diabetic teenager Amy Kennedy (Brittney Wilson). The FBI Agent Megan Saunders (Ione Skye), whose partner and lover was killed by Lowman a couple of years ago in a bank heist, assumes the investigation and finds that Amy needs insulin injection in less than 12 hours, otherwise she will die. However, when her superior arrives in the location, he dismisses Megan since she is haunted by her fail in the past. But she seeks out her absent father to ask for some advice to help her to find Amy while the time is ticking.

"12 Hours to Live" has a promising beginning with an intriguing situation. However, the unrealistic and commercial resolution of the plot is weak and full of clichés. The flawed and annoying screenplay has a repetitive flashback with the shooting where Megan's partner is killed. Further, I do not know why this movie is dubbed in English, and the emotionless voices are too artificial and not synchronized with the movements of the lips. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "12 Horas Para Viver" ("12 Hours to Live")

There is a running joke in my house that Lifetime is not on in my presence. Please do not let anyone know that I tuned in to see Ione Skye. I had no choice and could not pass up an opportunity to see her.

She did a good job as an FBI agent tracking down the slime-ball (Kevin Durand) who killed her partner (Michael Boisvert).

Durand (Smoking Aces, Wild Hogs) snatches a diabetic girl (Brittney Wilson) as a hostage and, in the Lifetime way, starts to care for her. Of course, Skye is more concerned with the girl than the murderer. You expect all this from a Lifetime movie, but you have to get by it to enjoy the story.

Unfortunately, there isn't much else, so, it has to be rated for Ione Skye fans only.