12-12-12 is one of the oddest TV show or film titles I’ve ever come across, but as the billing states, the most professional bank heists take 12 months in the planning, are carried out within 12 hours, and if you’ve been on the run for 12 days after that, you won’t be caught at all.
Each episode covers a segment of each part of that timeline, starting with the first hour of the heist, but rather than go a bit ’24’ and have 12 episodes, there’s only 8. However, it does flick between them in a time-conscious style.
In Zurich, they’re starting as the clock ticks over from Xmas Eve to Xmas Day, because “Who robs banks on Xmas Eve?”
Well, these guys, and in a surprising scenario, as the opener begins with a very double-jointed man crawling out of a bank’s safety deposit box! I certainly wouldn’t fit in there!
Then we go to the first month of planning, where Jamie’s French girlfriend tells him she’s pregnant, but after a tense opening segment, the programme REALLY slows down for this section, so it’s a bit meh at that point. However, events do pep up for the first day of hunting the criminal, as Jackie’s (Anthony Mackie – Captain America: Brave New World IMAX 3D) on secondment to the Zurich cop shop for 8 months, but why is anyone working on Xmas Day?
Bank alarms keep going off, but they’re considered to be faulty, and since it’s the festive season, everywhere is running on a skeleton staff… but Jackie’s a busybody and won’t take no for an answer.
But nothing ever goes to plan for both sides of the law, and having seen the first couple of episodes so far, it’s a very intriguing concept, the way it shows the different segments, whilst not sticking to the usual rules of continuity.
So far, Mackie is faring better than Jamie Dornan (A Haunting In Venice), who leads the heist as Paul Galvin, along with his brother, Bobby (Jack Kesy – The Pickup), but there’s still time…
Either way, along with gorgeous locations, taking in Zurich and Frankfurt, Apple have another intriguing hit on their hands, and there’s great support from Sallie Harmsen (Until I Kill You) as Swiss cop Lena, who finds Jackie is really testing her patience when she wants a nice quite Christmas Day.
12-12-12 is on Apple TV from tomorrow, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. If it is in future, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 50-60 mins per episode
Release date: Friday November 13th
Studio: Apple TV
Format: 2.00:1
Series Directors: Kari Skogland, Takeshi Fukunaga, Ellen Kuras
Producers: Erika Milutin, Tolula Dada, Kali Reis
Creator: Dudi Appleton, Jim Keeble
Writers: Dudi Appleton, Jamie Carragher, Jim Keeble, Tolula Dada, Samantha Corbin-Miller
Music: Federico Jusid
Cast:
Jack Strickland: Anthony Mackie
Paul Galvin: Jamie Dornan
Bobby Galvin: Jack Kesy
Lena: Sallie Harmsen
Severine: Agathe Rousselle
Alberich: Julius Feldmeier
Jan Kobel: Pit Bukowski
Gunda Erlinger: Hildegard Schroedter
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.