The Marine
By : Suzanne Philips
Starring: John Cena (WWE), Robert Patrick(WALK THE LINE), Kelly Carlson (Nip/Tuck) Anthony Ray Parker (THE MATRIX)
Directed by: John Bonito (ECW, RAW)
Written by: Michell Gallagher
Rated PG-13
Running Time 1 hour 33 min.
Marine Sergeant John Triton (John Cena in his film debut) is discharged from service after disobeying an order and returns home to his wife and home in South Carolina. After unsuccessfully trying to start a new career, Triton and his wife Kate (Kelly Carlson) set out on a trip to the mountains. At a gas station along the way, the pair runs into a gang of jewel thieves led by Rome (Robert Patrick) who kidnap Kate and leave John for dead. Triton then sets out to rescue his wife and bring her home.
Despite the best efforts of key members of the cast (Cena, Carlson, and Patrick), THE MARINE is not a good film. The direction is sub-par, with too many slow-motion and tracking shots as well as shots which exist for absolutely no reason except maybe that someone thought they would look cool. The script is atrocious. 99% of the "jokes" in the film are not at all funny. The few scenes that do get a chuckle are usually due to the hard work of the actors. The worst thing about the film is the horrible score. Picture bad 1970's television or bad porn.....the music is outdated and waaaay too loud. It completely overpowers the scenes and looks as though the director was trying to make an hour and a half long music video with some occasional dialogue. The characters are all completely one-dimensional and somewhat boring to be honest.
Cena does an admirable job with the horrible dialogue he is given. I think he definitely has the potential to be an action/comedy film star on par with The Rock. He has the looks, humor and certainly the physical talent to pull it off. Unfortunately, this was not the correct vehicle for him to show off what he can do.
Kelly Carlson was fine - again she was given nothing to do but be cute and scream every so often.
Robert Patrick was by far carrying the film, and even he had some horrible scenes. The script just pulled everyone down.
The rest of the actors were pretty horrible. Anthony Ray Parker, playing the psycho killer Morgan, was so bad, I can't believe someone didn't tell him he needed to back it off. He was completely over the top and cartoonish and seemed to believe he was quite funny......not even close. The Australian actors were having a decidedly hard time with the Southern accents and most were slipping right and left. And by the way, Australia really doesn't look anything like South Carolina but thanks for trying.
While it was nice to see Cena on the big screen and to get some enjoyment from Robert Patrick, THE MARINE is really not a great bet.
2 out of 5
Photos courtesy of and copyright Twentieth Century Fox.