Writer: Joaquin Sanchez, Jaime Falero (Screenplay)
Starring: James Cosmo, Joaquin Sanchez, Natasha Alam, Eric Roberts, Timothy Gibbs, Tony Corvillo
Plot: The Russians scrap a dangerous scientific project designed to change the course of history. A manhunt ensues after they unsuccessfully attempt to exterminate all the scientists involved in the top secret project.
Tagline – Outpost meets Terminator
Runtime: 1 Hour 37 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Action sci-Fi 101
Story: The Bunker: Project 12 starts as we learn about three scientists that escaped a secret Sovient Union experiment, now in the modern time Tabeel (Sanchez) leads a team including Irina (Alam), Alan (Corvillo) and other are hired by business tycoon Henderson (Roberts) to locate Brian Balanowsky (Cosmo) one of those scientists for a secret experiment of their own.
As Brian guides the team through the bunker for the research, he must face the past while revealing the secrets that will end up trying to eliminate the team.
Thoughts on The Bunker: Project 12
Characters – Brian Balanowsky is a former Russian scientist, gone into hiding after the projects were closed down, when he is located years later, he is forced to guide a team into the bunkers to bring out his research. He is a reluctant scientist who knows what he created was wrong. Tabeel is the leader of the team, he keeps the team in line refusing to let them cross the line and risk each other’s lives. Irina is another member of the team, she starts out strong just like the rest of the team, but soon she just becomes another one running for safety. Henderson is the man funding the search, he does have his own reasons for being involved.
Performances – In the performances we get a couple of big names in James Cosmo and Eric Roberts who are both reliable for any project and this is no different. It is the members of the team that are looking to make an impact with Joaquin Sanchez doing well as the leader of the team. The rest of the team does feel interchangeable with nobody standing out from the crowd.
Story – The story of secret experiments from different countries is always going to be able to create an interesting motivation in a story, in this one we see what the Russians had been working on during the Cold War with a team entering one of the abandoned bunkers in search of the research. This plays out how you would imagine with the team being able to tackle the situation only to realize that things are much deadlier than they could imagine. You can see the comparisons to ‘Outpost’ as that movie gave us an experiment that left a team facing the odds to survive. If you are going to be looking for anything overly fresh from a story, you will be disappointed and the extra added twists feel forced more than anything.
Action/Sci-Fi – The action in the film comes from the big shoot outs between the team and what is in the bunker, the weapons become bigger as the film unfolds, the sci-fi side of the film shows us just how certain experiments would have been going on during the Cold War.
Settings – Once we hit the bunker we have a nice contained location which only has one way in or out, this does help us feel like the battle for life or death is more realistic.
Special Effects – The effects are solid enough, the creations look good with the only weakness in them coming from their eyes.
Scene of the Movie – The first introduction of the creation.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The extra twist is too much.
Final Thoughts – This is an interesting action sci-fi film that does borrow from certain other movies, anything to do with the secret experiments is always entertaining to watch.
Overall: Simple action sci-fi movie.
Rating