Starring John Cena, Kelly Carlson, Robert Patrick
Written By: Michelle Gallagher
Directed By: John Bonito
Studio: 20th Century Fox/WWE Films
Buy on Amazon.com link

If you think back on the history of wrestling stars in box office films, unless the name of the movie is “No Holds Barred” which is about wrestling, they are usually along the lines of terrible or craprific. Some of the more recent wrestler turned actor movies have been a little better than those from the 80’s and 90’s. The Scorpion King was alright even though it was a blatant rip-off of Conan The Barbarian and See No Evil was ok mainly because of the star of that movie, Kane, who is one scary fella no matter how you look at it. Now we have The Marine with white thug wrestler John Cena, and to be honest…the movie wasn’t all that bad. It wasn’t First Blood but it sure wasn’t Rambo III.

The number one selling point for me was casting Robert Patrick as the main villain. Some may remember him as the T-1000 from Terminator 2. There was also a pretty funny reference about the Terminator in the movie. Patrick plays Rome, the leader of a mercenary group of diamond thieves and killers.

The Marine follows John Cena’s character, John Triton (what a heroic name) who, after being honorably discharged for disobeying a direct order, struggles to find something to do in his complacent civilian life. Triton and his hot wife (Kelly Carlson) decide to take a trip to ease his boredom. After crossing paths with Rome and his gang, action, adventure and explosions ensue.

John Cena isn’t a great actor but he was playing a Marine so you really just have to look tough and he played that part of the role well. Kelly Carlson also wasn’t that spectacular but she was good eye candy for most of the movie. For me, the stars of The Marine were definitely the villains, especially Robert Patrick. He reminded me a lot of Jack Nicholson because his character was very intelligent and methodical, bordered on the line of insanity at times but also managed to sprinkle in a little humor here and there. One example occurred when his group was running from the police through the swamp and he gets a phone call. It’s the other half of whoever was part of the diamond heist. Rome begins to tell that person that they’re no longer part of the deal when he gets another call. He puts the first person on hold and answers the other call, which turns out to be a telemarketer and Rome says, “Great! This includes the premium channels and the sports package, right?”

One thing that confused me was the difference between the “Unrated” version and the regular version. Having watched the “Unrated” version only, I really didn’t see anything that would merit being cut out of an action movie. The only thing that I can think of was that the original theatric release was rated PG-13 most likely because the WWE wanted their younger core audience to be able to see the movie, so it was probably watered-down. There were some graphic deaths here and there, but you can see those on basic cable. I honestly think that the watered-down version wouldn’t have been worth watching at all.

Overall, the movie was kind of corny, outrageous and predictable at times, but when you know what you’re getting into in the first place…a movie about a Marine starring a professional wrestler…you really don’t expect much. But the movie was action-packed, had hot girls in it, a hot girl catfight, lots of explosions, and Robert Patrick starring as a nutcase. I got more than I expected. The Marine isn’t going to win any awards but I got what I wanted out of it and that was…a fun time.

Features:
Theatrical and Unrated Version on one disc
Exclusive Featurette: The Making Of The Marine
John Cena Featurettes: Encompassing Cena’s Personal Profile, Military History, Basic Training and Cena’s Aussie Day Off
The Marine World Premier at Camp Pendleton
WWE Promotional Features

Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
English, French and Spanish Language Tracks

Video:
Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)

Subtitles:
English and Spanish

Favorite Scenes: The diamond heist, the encounter at the gas station, the swamp lodge fights
Rating: NR
Running Time: 92 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: