It’s very easy to forget that Joel Schumacher has made good films. With Batman Forever and Batman & Robin floating like harbingers of doom over his entire career, gems like The Lost Boys and Flatliners are lost in the shadows. Schumacher even managed two good films in his post-Batman career with Phone Booth and Tigerland. Sadly his latest venture, Twelve, does nothing to remind people of his strong points.
Based on a book of the same name, it is the story of a bunch of rich New York yuppie college kids who party and do drugs and bad things happen to them. The focus of the film is White Mike (Chace Crawford), a sober drug dealer, his friends and a new drug on the street called Twelve (which is apparently a mix between cocaine and ecstasy). There are so many characters in the film that not even the incessant narration can help you keep track of who all the characters are what purpose they may or may night serve. Luckily I had the Wikipedia page up while watching to give me some semblance of what was going on.
While they are numerous, the biggest problem with this film is that what should have been the worst part about it is actually the best. This film contains way too much narration. Even without looking it up on-line, it is very easy to surmise that this film is based on a book because the narration feels like pages and pages of the book being read word for word. Everything we ever learn about the characters in this film we get from the narrator.
This is bad story-telling, pure and simple.
Cinema is about showing the audience, not telling them. Adaptation does not mean just reading the book over moving pictures. While this is a horrible crutch that the film hobbles along on, it is at least pleasant to listen to as the narrator is Kiefer Sutherland (obviously doing Schumacher a favor having starred in Phone Booth).
Shockingly, a majority of the cast turn in pretty decent performances. Sadly, these are lost in the completely unoriginal story (The Rules of Attraction, amongst others, did it better) and bad, lazy writing. Most of the kids in this film have little to no film experience. Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin and Emily Meade all do the best they can with the material in hand. Hopefully better filmmakers will see the talent and give them all another chance. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is even pretty good in the film, though playing a drug dealer I imagine that wasn’t too much of a stretch for him. And if you looked closely you might even catch Ellen Barkin in a tiny role as one of the kid’s mothers.
Twelve shows all the typical things one might expect in a “drugs are bad, m’kay” movie. The kids do drugs, one girl gets addicted and resorts to sex to get more, a giant party is thrown and it ends with a blood bath. You know, just like when you were in college.
There are plenty of good films about drugs out there. This is not one of them.
This film is presented in 1.895:1 anamorphic widescreen and 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. The film is pretty lacking as far as cinematic style, goes, but the transfer here looks and sounds really good.
A variety of Trailers are included.
I’m sure Joel Schumacher had the best intentions when he set out to make a film about rich kids doing drugs but with no character development, and no new insight on the subject, Twelve offers nothing to the viewer that they might actually want to see.
20th Century Fox presents Twelve. Directed by: Joel Schumacher. Written by Jordan Melamed. Based on the novel by Nick McDonell. Starring: Chase Crawford, Emma Roberts, Curtis Jackson, Rory Culkin, Kiefer Sutherland and Ellen Barkin. Running time: 93. Rating: R for violence, drug use, sexual themes and nudity. Released on Blu-ray and DVD: December 28, 2010.
