marine

THE SYNOPSIS

After a tour of duty in Iraq—where’s he just saved his fellow grunts from imminent death—by disobeying orders to the contrary, upstanding Marine Sgt. John Triton (Cena) is honorably-discharged and sent back to America.

Now in the arms of his loving and lovely wife Kate (Carlson), John tries to adapt to a new, violence-free lifestyle. That doesn’t last as he’s fired from his security guard job on the first day, when he flings a violently-belligerent man through a glass window. Yikes!

In another part of the city, smooth and lethal criminal Rome robs a swanky jewelry shop and make off with $12 million in diamonds. Included in his crew are sexy mistress Angela (Bianca), sociopathic Morgan (Parker); cool customer Bennett (Bennett) and clownish Frank (Carlopio).

On their way to rendezvous with Rome’s benefactor, the crew stop off at a gas station—where one Mr. & Mrs. Triton happen to be—they being on their way to a relaxing vacation.

The cops show up and all hell breaks loose. Bang-bang! The cops are down, John is injured and Kate is kidnapped by these lethal desperados. Our grunt comes to and escapes the new fireball that was once a gas station with nice convenience store!

So begins a hunt through the steamy South Carolina swamps. John hunts the villains, with his wife in tow and the authorities, led by Detective Van Buren (Ehlers), are hunting Rome and his crew.

John eliminates the crew one by one, that is when not encountering dangerous drug runners, alligators and crooked cops. He and Rome must duke it out. Will John save his wife? And how many more things must go KABOOM!! before he does that?

THE CRITIQUE

Watching THE MARINE, I felt like it’s the 1980’s all over again, and balls-to-the-walls action flicks are back! Only this time, the hero is neither a massive body-builder from Austria or a sinewy Hell’s Kitchen brawler with a unique style of talking.

No, it’s the 21st Century equivalent of Ah-nuld & Sly: the WWE behemoth known as John Cena. Following in the footsteps of that other wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Cena is easily bigger and more lithe than his predecessor.

However, where Johnson has more charisma and uses it, Cena hits people. Hard. That’s his charm. OK, I will concede that this is his first movie and the guy could grow into an entertaining and profitable entity on the silver screen. But he’s got a ways to go. (I hope he doesn’t hit me for voicing an opinion...)

Believe me, I’m not blaming Cena—who’s known in the wrestling world as “The Marky Mark Of The Wrestling Ring” (due to the fact that he also creates rap songs for the ring). An actor is usually only as good as the material that he/she is presented with. And this script is not exactly a Robert Towne page-turner.

Still, as written by newcomer Michell Gallagher and veteran scribe Alan B. McElroy (Wrong Turn/Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever/Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers), there are enough explosions (approximately 24) and action-flick clichés to keep one entertained. No more, no less. Well, actually—there’s a layer of tongue-in-cheek hipness to it all, so that should count for something, right?

Playing what he usually does best—the villain—actor Robert Patrick exudes the right amount of cool suave and lethal glee that he practically owns the movie. It doesn’t hurt his cause to note that Patrick imbues the role with a glint in those crystal blue eyes.

The ladies (thesps Kelly Carlson & Abigail Bianca) are hot and at least try to give something to the proceedings. Hell, I just like looking at them. The rest of the cast is game.

As directed by commercials helmer John Bonito, THE MARINE is an easy watch. It moves along swiftly without ever stopping to acknowledge its stupidity—yet, concurrently, does manage to acknowledge that this is a silly action flick—and wears its stripes proudly.

Credit the warm, glossy lensing to veteran English cinematographer David Eggby, A.C.S. (Underdog/Pitch Black/Dragonheart). It’s the type of work where the hero (sweaty, battered & bruised) glistens in the light while shit explodes around him. Fiery work, Mr. Eggby!

When it comes to the crack editing—courtesy of veteran cutter Dallas Puett (The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift/2 Fast 2 Furious/Lethal Weapon 4)—I feel rather ambivalent. For pacing, the cutting works terrifically (you can’t beat a crisp 93 minute running time).

However, when it comes to the fight choreography, the scenes are edited rather jaggedly—which is nothing new in Hollywood action flicks. These filmmakers should take notes from their Asian counterparts in cutting fight sequences.

Besides a purposefully-inane script, I do have to say that what also bugged me about this movie is that it tries to have its action-genre cake and eat it too. The tame PG-13 rating limits some real screen violence to satisfy a wider, mass audience--like tweeners (little pod-people between the ages of 8-12) and teens under 18.

Though I had originally likened this movie to its genre forebearers, there are obvious differences. What made ‘80s action movies like Commando & Rambo: First Blood Part II such fun were that they acknowledged their R-rated violence and reveled in it. Those were balls-to the-wall action movies, man!

As it stands, the WWE-produced THE MARINE is breezy fun, as long as you don’t any of it take seriously. By the way, though set in South Carolina, the entire production was shot in Queensland, Australia. Which, of course, looks exactly like The Palmetto State!

THE BOTTOM LINE

The ‘80s are back! Or, at least its action movie formula is. Admittedly, the movie is silly. Yet, it’s still kind of fun…in that nostalgic kind of way!

Plenty of brawn, explosions and hot ladies in distress, this is one for boys’ night out—as long as they leave the womenfolk at home. But then again, there are plenty of ladies who like looking at sweaty, brawny men duke it out while shit blows up around them…

CAST: John Cena, Robert Patrick, Kelly Carlson, Anthony Ray Parker, Abigail Bianca, Jerome Ehlers, Manu Bennett, Drew Powell, Frank Carlopio

CREDITS: Director: John Bonito; Screenwriters: Michelle Gallagher & Alan B. McElroy; Producer Joel Simon; Director Of Photography: David Eggby; Production Designer: Herbert Pinter; Editor: Dallas Puett; Costume Designer: Graham Purcell; Music: Don Davis

AC/AL/SV 2006 93m ENGLISH