The Marine 2

April 27, 2010

Director: Roel Reiné,
Starring: Ted DiBiase Jr., Temuera Morrison, Lara Cox, Robert Coleby, Michael Rooker, Kelly B. Jones, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Dom Hetrakul, Marina Ponomareva, Levern Gibbs, Tsyun Malherbe, Able Wanamakok, Thienchai Jayasvasti Jr., Seng Kawee, Pongsanart Vinsiri,

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DVD Review

Darren Jamieson +

The Marine 2 (2009) is a sequel, of sorts, to the 2006 movie starring John Cena. This time however, Cena has been replaced by the new generation of WWE Superstars, in the shape of Ted DiBiase Jr – son of the original Ted DiBiase, the Million Dollar Man.

You have to hand it to Vince McMahon. He’s not a man content with just making billions of dollars from the World Wrestling Entertainment company that he owns, he’s also intent on making billions of dollars from movies. Backed by his own company’s impressive bankroll, and starring the brightest and best from the WWE roster, WWE Studios is able to churn out a huge number of action movies each year, made to measure for the fans.

However, where this doesn’t always work is where the WWE Superstar in question isn’t that comfortable with the mic. John Cena was, and is, always comfortable when he’s talking trash and addressing the audience. Whether playing a heel or a face, Cena could have the audience eating out of the palm of his hand. Other WWE Superstars, such as Sean Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and obviously The Rock, were equally adept at the dialogue part of being a WWE Superstar too – Ted DiBiase Jr however, doesn’t seem that comfortable with it.

In the Marine 2, DiBiase looks ill at ease with what is being asked of him and doesn’t have any of the screen presence that Cena had in the first film. Of course, you can’t place all of the blame with DiBiase – the script and the direction on this sequel are nothing compared to that seen on the first movie. The Marine 2 is pondering, plodding and lacking in any kind of emergency. When it does call for action, DiBiase looks as uncomfortable with gunplay as he does with dialogue.

Naturally you can’t have a film starring a WWE wrestler without some form of hand-to-hand combat – yet the way that’s introduced is about as clunky as if the bad guys had called him out to a wrestling ring. That said, DiBiase handled this well – this he is comfortable with.

The plot of The Marine 2 (which is inspired by true events, as the DVD cover tells us) centres around Joe Linwood (DiBiase) and his wife Robin (Cox) who are on a paradise resort that is about to be opened, while she acts as the PA to a tyrannical Darren Conner (Coleby) who owns the new resort. During the launch party, fanatical separatists, led by Damo (Temuera Morrison – Jango Fett from Star Wars) take everyone hostage and demand a ‘tribute’, or ransom.

Joe Linwood, a US Marine, escapes and should then embark on a Die Hard or Commando styled adventure to rescue his wife – but instead he sits around until the authorities show up, dragging out the story a bit. A few botched rescue attempts later, and a couple of sign posted double crosses, and Linwood eventually has a showdown with Jango Fett (sorry, Damo) in a shanty town.

The Marine 2 smacks of being a straight to DVD cash-in on the success of the first film, which makes a mockery of the fact that it actually did very well in the USA when it was released theatrically.

Fans of the WWE movies will be pleased to know that there’s many more where these came from, including one starring Mr Monday Night, Rob Van Dam. We’re not going to hold our breath for that one because, while RVD is one of the best in the business when it comes to leaving it all in the ring, his mic skills are poor, very poor. He makes the other Van Damme look like Brando.

Darren Jamieson

Darren has enjoyed an interest in film for many years, studying the subject at Newport Film School where he worked on the film ‘Cop on the Edge IX: Prelude to Justice‘ in a directing and acting capacity. The official site can be enjoyed here. Darren setup WhatDVD.Net in 2003 to further his love of films and to write passionately about the movies he enjoys, and about those that he doesn’t.

Although his day-to-day activities mean that he now has less time to review movies than he would ideally prefer, he still tries to review new releases, and DVDs from his extensive collection, whenever possible.
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