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47%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #2,881
...out of 20,698 movies
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John Triton is a heroic Marine who returns home after being discharged--against his will--from the Iraq War. Stateside, he finds himself back in action, when a group of murderous diamond thieves on the run led by a merciless criminal named Rome has kidnapped his wife and John goes on a chase through the South Carolinian wilderness to retrieve her. With everything on the line, the Marine will stop at nothing to carry out his toughest and most important mission.
--IMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: May 2, 2007
There's a term in professional wrestling called the "cheap pop" which is used to describe wrestlers getting the fans to cheer for them. Now, the cheap pop is different from the normal cheers; some guys (and ladies) can simply walk to the ring or talk on the microphone and have the fans going nuts, but there are those select few who simply can't get a reaction out of the crowd. This is where the cheap pop comes in. Since the fans don't care about this particular fellow and what he's saying, the guy will do something that will basically force the crowd to cheer for him: for example, some guys may say "I'm having such a great time tonight here in <current city>", while others may go with the less-common (but just as effective) "You know, I was just down at the bar having a few beers with <hometown hero>..." This, my dear readers, is the definition of a cheap pop, and it seems as though WWE used this concept to their advantage throughout the majority of The Marine. That's not necessarily a bad thing: you can tell that they're pulling a cheap pop out of you, but still, it's fun to go along for the ride.
The storyline is quite simple, as is the norm for most action films of this type. John Triton (John Cena) is a former marine who has been discharged after disobeying a direct order, with said order being "stand there and look like an idiot while Al-Qaeda operatives assassinate your fellow soldiers." He comes home to spend some time with his wife Kate (Kelly Carlson), and the two eventually decide to take a vacation together. However, things don't go as planned since Kate soon finds herself kidnapped by a diamond thief (Robert Patrick) and his cronies after being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now, it's up to our hero to trek through the South Carolina swamps and pick off these men one by one while attempting to save his wife.
This movie was slammed pretty hard upon its initial release, and I really have to wonder why. Is it a groundbreaking, thought-provoking film? Of course not: it's a mindless action flick starring a professional wrestler. There's an explosion every couple of minutes, all of the women look like they stepped out of the pages of Maxim magazine, and the testosterone levels are jacked up to eleven. Now, that's not to say that it's a bad film; on the contrary, it's actually pretty good as far as mindless action flicks go.
Perhaps the hate comes courtesy of the simple fact that this is a WWE film. I certainly won't defend WWE against the many claims of stale television shows and bad events; after all, aside from the occasional DVD releases, I personally haven't watched the product in years thanks to the lackluster writing and atrocious shows. However, WWE Films is two for two (I've yet to see Steve Austin in The Condemned) in my book: I enjoyed Kane in See No Evil, and I actually enjoyed the hell out of John Cena in The Marine.
Take this film for what it is: a mindless action flick with lots of explosions, lots of fire, lots of car chases, and a one-man army who sets out to kill everyone who stands in his way. Is it going to stand the test of time as a classic in the genre? Certainly not; however, it is an entertaining film full of some great special effects (and some not so great effects), and when the credits began to roll, I can't say that I was disappointed with the final product. Is John Cena set to become Hollywood's next breakout star? Of course not; however, let's not forget a man named Arnold Schwarzenegger who went on to become a household name thanks to action flicks like this... and it certainly wasn't because of his acting chops.
Overall, The Marine is an entertaining action film that may not reinvigorate the genre and probably won't be remembered in five years, but for a late-night "put your brain on hold and grab some popcorn" flick, it's perfectly acceptable. 7/10.
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#1:
BuryMeAlive
- added May 2, 2007 at 8:12am
I'm far from a big wrestling fan, but I saw the
trailer for this movie, and it looks like a good
mindless action ala Arnold. I really want to see
it.
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#2:
bluemeanie
- added May 2, 2007 at 2:03pm
Yeah, I think the film was blasted for a good
reason. I saw this film at the local dollar
theatre because I was bored and wanted mindless
action. What made Arnold's mindless action films
work was his charisma and his believability. John
Cena sucks. There's no other way to put that. He
doesn't have talent as an actor, nor as an action
star. He's a poor man's Brian Bosworth. "The
Marine" could have starred Jason Statham just as
easily and still been just as bad. Some films
don't ever warrant a review of any kind from me --
and that's why I never wrote one for this. I was
embarassed to have seen it. 0/10.
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