Dangerous Incorporated
10-15-2006, 12:36 AM
Newspaper Reviews Of "The Marine"
LA Daily News: Send In The Troops — But Maybe Not This One
"This guy's like the Terminator," one evil diamond thief snarls to a second evil diamond thief as their car attempts to lose the angry Marine in hot pursuit. The remark draws a quizzical look, via rear-view mirror, from Rome, the most rotten of the evil diamond thieves.
John Cena in 20th Century Fox's The Marine.
Since Rome is played by Robert Patrick, who was the indestructible T-1000 in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," that look is good for a throwaway laugh. Grab 'em while you can, ladies and gents. There's not much about "The Marine" that's even slightly diverting. Including, alas, John Cena, the film's villain-dispatching star.
There's Patrick, certainly, who has been directed by John Bonito (or perhaps left to his own devices) to prance around like a psychotic ringleader. The other baddies — most notably Anthony Ray Parker as a gunman with a persecution complex and a rock-candy phobia — follow Rome's over-the-top example.
Until they're systematically offed.
Oh, am I perhaps spending too much ink talking about the crooks? Well, that's who the movie stays with for the bulk of "The Marine's" insufferable 91 minutes. If these villains hadn't been moronic enough to grab the wrong woman for hostage purposes, "The Marine" likely wouldn't need a Marine at all.
But they do, and it does. In the film's first scene, Sgt. John Triton (Cena) discovers an Iraqi prison, is told to wait for back-up, snaps, "No time!" and starts firing. He rescues the prisoners, is summarily discharged for disobeying an order, gets the "You've served your country well" speech and returns stateside to his adoring wife, Kate (Kelly Carlson).
After a day spent working as a private security guard goes sour, Triton and Kate hit the road for a vacation. At a filling station, they cross paths with Rome's gang, who have stolen a bagful of diamonds — and murdered a couple of cops — the day before. The crooks grab Kate, and Triton follows in almost superhuman pursuit. Chases, explosions and miraculous escapes from death follow.
Cena, the World Wrestling Entertainment star positioned by WWE Films to become an action franchise, is not gifted with strong and silent magnetism. Nor is he particularly witty or charming. Yes, we get that the man is on a mission. Yes, he seems to have a remarkable ability to escape certain-death situations with barely a hangnail. Yes, if forced to square off against this guy, we, too, would probably get stomped.
That said, this resourceful Marine is no Terminator, and you can just bet the makers of "The Marine" are wishing he were.
THE MARINE
Our rating: 1 !/2
(PG-13: Intense sequences of violent action, sensuality and language)
Starring: John Cena, Kelly Carlson, Robert Patrick.
Director: John Bonito.
Running time: 1 hr. 31 min.
Playing: In wide release.
In a nutshell: When the need for cool action arises, don't send in this Marine.
Salt Lake Tribune: Review "The Marine"
What's the difference between a World Wrestling Entertainment-produced movie and an actual professional wrestling match?
Chances are, the wrestling would feature better acting and scripting with less predictable results.
The WWE-produced movie "The Marine," starring wrestler John Cena, should win an award for most cliches in an action movie:
* The good soldier discharged for doing the right thing.
* The damsel in distress.
* The racially mixed group of bad guys with big automatic weapons who can't manage to hit the good guy.
* A swamp filled with creepy creatures.
* A stupid Southern truck driver and "Deliverance" jokes complete with riffs from ''Dueling Banjos.''
* A dirty cop and a too-smart-for-his-own good crook.
About the only thing right about this movie is the smirking evil bad guy Robert Patrick who looks like he is having way too much fun.
While you know Patrick's character will ultimately be killed by Cena's Marine, the veteran actor is quirky and funny. In fact, when somebody mentions that Cena is like the Terminator who can't be killed, Patrick - who starred in Terminator 2 - lights up the screen with his
smirk.
Cena gets drummed out of the Marines in the first five minutes of the movie because he disobeyed an order. He returns to his beautiful blonde wife (Kelly Carlson) not sure what to do with the rest of his life. After a miserable day as a security guard, the Marine and his wife decide to head to the mountains. While filling their SUV with gasoline, they run into Patrick and his band of bad guys who have just completed a diamond heist at a jewelry store and killed a cop.
Carlson is kidnapped for no logical reason and Cena survives numerous explosions, crashes, close calls, beatings, a double-crossing cop and a terrible script to use his military skills to save the day.
There is nothing particularly offensive about any of this. Despite the gunfire and explosions, the movie features little gore, just a few cuss words and a mild sex scene with actors in their underwear. Like watching pro wrestling on television, it provides plenty of action while requiring no thought.
Chances are, that will be its appeal.
* WHERE: Playing everywhere
* WHEN: Now open.
* RATING: PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action, sensuality and language.
* RUNNING TIME: 93 minutes.
* BOTTOM LINE: An inoffensive and cliche-ridden flick that makes scripted wrestling look like Oscar material.
Seattle Times: "The Marine - Little Depth, Lotsa Pow!
The action-hero deficit has grown so desperate in Hollywood over the past decade that they're now drafting guys directly out of professional wrestling. Ah well, anything is better than Nicolas Cage in a muscle shirt, right?
At least "The Marine" is executive-produced by Vince McMahon, the seal of excellence.
WWE grappler John Cena follows The Rock onto the big screen as the title character, John Triton, a Semper Fi-guided missile who gets drummed out of the Marines because (oh, injustice!), he acted singlehandedly to save three fellow warriors from a small army of barbaric al-Qaida terrorists.
"The Marine," Directed by John Bonito, with John Cena, Robert Patrick, Kelly Carlson, Anthony Ray Parker. Rated PG-13 (profanity, violence). Running time: 1 hour, 33 mins. Several theaters.
Back in the States, just as he's setting out to start a new life with his wife, Kate (Kelly Carlson), she is taken hostage by a vicious gang of diamond thieves, lead by the glib, reptilian Rome (Robert Patrick of TV's "The Unit").
That tears it.
Triton has already had the thing he loves the most — the Corps — taken from him; he's not going to lose his wife, too. There follows a long relentless pursuit, as all concerned hump it through the scrub swamp of coastal South Carolina (actually it's Australia).
Director John Bonito does a decent job with this formulaic premise. Unfortunately, he's not too good at filming hand-to-hand combat. But Bonito's positively a genius at big explosions, which is good because in the course of "The Marine," he blows up everything but McMahon's trailer. This is more a pyrotechnics display than it is a movie.
The script makes some appealing, if off-target, attempts at levity.
At least during the slow patches, you can amuse yourself by playing separated-at-birth with the cast. Cena, for instance, looks like a steroid-stoked Matt Damon. Rome's trigger-happy henchmen Morgan (Anthony Ray Parker) could double for NBA star Alonzo Mourning. And the gang's wheelman Frank (Frank Carlopio) looks like Yankee catcher Jorge Posada's skinny twin.
Patrick certainly makes for a cool villain in this, his best role since "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." And Cena as an action hero? He wisely takes an understated approach in his first outing, which makes his lack of acting skill less obvious.
But the guy is so musclebound that when a cop tells him to place his hands behind his head, Cena can't even get close. So, at least he looks the part, which in a cinematic cage-match like this is 80 percent of the battle.
Stars And Stripes: From Ring To Movie Screen, Cena Gets Tough For ‘Marine’ Role
World Wrestling Entertainment champion John Cena works out six days a week, tosses 300-pound wrestlers around a ring, and has been kicked and punched too many times to keep count.
But when he recently spent a day at Marine Corps Recruiting Depot Parris Island in South Carolina, he met his match.
“We did it all – I went through The Crucible (a physical and mental endurance test), did the firing range, rappelled down a 50-foot wall,” he said. “It was tough. I don’t know if I’m cut out for that kind of work. Those guys earn every second that they wear those colors.”
Cena has been up close and personal with servicemembers and military bases during the past few weeks in connection with his new movie, “The Marine.”
The film follows a Marine honorably discharged from the service after disobeying an order that would have killed innocent civilians. While on a vacation to sort out what to do with the rest of his life, his wife (Kelly Carlson) is kidnapped by a band of thieves in need of a hostage for their getaway.
The movie doesn’t focus much on the military — it’s an action flick, with five gigantic explosions just in the trailer — but Cena said he’s happy to play a member of the military in a movie he’s sure servicemembers will love.
And even though the military connection is loose in the movie, Cena said, it helps provide a good backstory for his character: a man with morals and a sense of duty, but also a strong right hook and a working knowledge of weapons.
The 29-year-old kept up his normal training regimen during filming, even though his movie fights took a completely different toll on his body than his matches in the ring.
“There, you take a pounding, but it’s just for a short time,” he said. “With the movie, you could be filming a fight scene for six, 10, 12 hours. It really beats you up bad.”
He has already returned to his old routine of beating up others, reclaiming WWE’s World Heavyweight Championship title last month. But Cena has still taken some time out to promote the movie, and to spend time with the servicemembers he hopes will see it. On Oct. 3, Cena and other stars of the movie attended a special premiere at Camp Pendleton in California to let Marines get a sneak peak at their newest on-screen incarnation.
He and other WWE wrestlers have traveled overseas with Armed Forces Entertainment several times in the past few years, and Cena said the military crowds are his favorite.
“It’s a whole different crowd with them over there,” he said. “You get even more reaction from them. If we don’t go back as a group, I’m heading over there solo.”
LA Daily News: Send In The Troops — But Maybe Not This One
"This guy's like the Terminator," one evil diamond thief snarls to a second evil diamond thief as their car attempts to lose the angry Marine in hot pursuit. The remark draws a quizzical look, via rear-view mirror, from Rome, the most rotten of the evil diamond thieves.
John Cena in 20th Century Fox's The Marine.
Since Rome is played by Robert Patrick, who was the indestructible T-1000 in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," that look is good for a throwaway laugh. Grab 'em while you can, ladies and gents. There's not much about "The Marine" that's even slightly diverting. Including, alas, John Cena, the film's villain-dispatching star.
There's Patrick, certainly, who has been directed by John Bonito (or perhaps left to his own devices) to prance around like a psychotic ringleader. The other baddies — most notably Anthony Ray Parker as a gunman with a persecution complex and a rock-candy phobia — follow Rome's over-the-top example.
Until they're systematically offed.
Oh, am I perhaps spending too much ink talking about the crooks? Well, that's who the movie stays with for the bulk of "The Marine's" insufferable 91 minutes. If these villains hadn't been moronic enough to grab the wrong woman for hostage purposes, "The Marine" likely wouldn't need a Marine at all.
But they do, and it does. In the film's first scene, Sgt. John Triton (Cena) discovers an Iraqi prison, is told to wait for back-up, snaps, "No time!" and starts firing. He rescues the prisoners, is summarily discharged for disobeying an order, gets the "You've served your country well" speech and returns stateside to his adoring wife, Kate (Kelly Carlson).
After a day spent working as a private security guard goes sour, Triton and Kate hit the road for a vacation. At a filling station, they cross paths with Rome's gang, who have stolen a bagful of diamonds — and murdered a couple of cops — the day before. The crooks grab Kate, and Triton follows in almost superhuman pursuit. Chases, explosions and miraculous escapes from death follow.
Cena, the World Wrestling Entertainment star positioned by WWE Films to become an action franchise, is not gifted with strong and silent magnetism. Nor is he particularly witty or charming. Yes, we get that the man is on a mission. Yes, he seems to have a remarkable ability to escape certain-death situations with barely a hangnail. Yes, if forced to square off against this guy, we, too, would probably get stomped.
That said, this resourceful Marine is no Terminator, and you can just bet the makers of "The Marine" are wishing he were.
THE MARINE
Our rating: 1 !/2
(PG-13: Intense sequences of violent action, sensuality and language)
Starring: John Cena, Kelly Carlson, Robert Patrick.
Director: John Bonito.
Running time: 1 hr. 31 min.
Playing: In wide release.
In a nutshell: When the need for cool action arises, don't send in this Marine.
Salt Lake Tribune: Review "The Marine"
What's the difference between a World Wrestling Entertainment-produced movie and an actual professional wrestling match?
Chances are, the wrestling would feature better acting and scripting with less predictable results.
The WWE-produced movie "The Marine," starring wrestler John Cena, should win an award for most cliches in an action movie:
* The good soldier discharged for doing the right thing.
* The damsel in distress.
* The racially mixed group of bad guys with big automatic weapons who can't manage to hit the good guy.
* A swamp filled with creepy creatures.
* A stupid Southern truck driver and "Deliverance" jokes complete with riffs from ''Dueling Banjos.''
* A dirty cop and a too-smart-for-his-own good crook.
About the only thing right about this movie is the smirking evil bad guy Robert Patrick who looks like he is having way too much fun.
While you know Patrick's character will ultimately be killed by Cena's Marine, the veteran actor is quirky and funny. In fact, when somebody mentions that Cena is like the Terminator who can't be killed, Patrick - who starred in Terminator 2 - lights up the screen with his
smirk.
Cena gets drummed out of the Marines in the first five minutes of the movie because he disobeyed an order. He returns to his beautiful blonde wife (Kelly Carlson) not sure what to do with the rest of his life. After a miserable day as a security guard, the Marine and his wife decide to head to the mountains. While filling their SUV with gasoline, they run into Patrick and his band of bad guys who have just completed a diamond heist at a jewelry store and killed a cop.
Carlson is kidnapped for no logical reason and Cena survives numerous explosions, crashes, close calls, beatings, a double-crossing cop and a terrible script to use his military skills to save the day.
There is nothing particularly offensive about any of this. Despite the gunfire and explosions, the movie features little gore, just a few cuss words and a mild sex scene with actors in their underwear. Like watching pro wrestling on television, it provides plenty of action while requiring no thought.
Chances are, that will be its appeal.
* WHERE: Playing everywhere
* WHEN: Now open.
* RATING: PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action, sensuality and language.
* RUNNING TIME: 93 minutes.
* BOTTOM LINE: An inoffensive and cliche-ridden flick that makes scripted wrestling look like Oscar material.
Seattle Times: "The Marine - Little Depth, Lotsa Pow!
The action-hero deficit has grown so desperate in Hollywood over the past decade that they're now drafting guys directly out of professional wrestling. Ah well, anything is better than Nicolas Cage in a muscle shirt, right?
At least "The Marine" is executive-produced by Vince McMahon, the seal of excellence.
WWE grappler John Cena follows The Rock onto the big screen as the title character, John Triton, a Semper Fi-guided missile who gets drummed out of the Marines because (oh, injustice!), he acted singlehandedly to save three fellow warriors from a small army of barbaric al-Qaida terrorists.
"The Marine," Directed by John Bonito, with John Cena, Robert Patrick, Kelly Carlson, Anthony Ray Parker. Rated PG-13 (profanity, violence). Running time: 1 hour, 33 mins. Several theaters.
Back in the States, just as he's setting out to start a new life with his wife, Kate (Kelly Carlson), she is taken hostage by a vicious gang of diamond thieves, lead by the glib, reptilian Rome (Robert Patrick of TV's "The Unit").
That tears it.
Triton has already had the thing he loves the most — the Corps — taken from him; he's not going to lose his wife, too. There follows a long relentless pursuit, as all concerned hump it through the scrub swamp of coastal South Carolina (actually it's Australia).
Director John Bonito does a decent job with this formulaic premise. Unfortunately, he's not too good at filming hand-to-hand combat. But Bonito's positively a genius at big explosions, which is good because in the course of "The Marine," he blows up everything but McMahon's trailer. This is more a pyrotechnics display than it is a movie.
The script makes some appealing, if off-target, attempts at levity.
At least during the slow patches, you can amuse yourself by playing separated-at-birth with the cast. Cena, for instance, looks like a steroid-stoked Matt Damon. Rome's trigger-happy henchmen Morgan (Anthony Ray Parker) could double for NBA star Alonzo Mourning. And the gang's wheelman Frank (Frank Carlopio) looks like Yankee catcher Jorge Posada's skinny twin.
Patrick certainly makes for a cool villain in this, his best role since "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." And Cena as an action hero? He wisely takes an understated approach in his first outing, which makes his lack of acting skill less obvious.
But the guy is so musclebound that when a cop tells him to place his hands behind his head, Cena can't even get close. So, at least he looks the part, which in a cinematic cage-match like this is 80 percent of the battle.
Stars And Stripes: From Ring To Movie Screen, Cena Gets Tough For ‘Marine’ Role
World Wrestling Entertainment champion John Cena works out six days a week, tosses 300-pound wrestlers around a ring, and has been kicked and punched too many times to keep count.
But when he recently spent a day at Marine Corps Recruiting Depot Parris Island in South Carolina, he met his match.
“We did it all – I went through The Crucible (a physical and mental endurance test), did the firing range, rappelled down a 50-foot wall,” he said. “It was tough. I don’t know if I’m cut out for that kind of work. Those guys earn every second that they wear those colors.”
Cena has been up close and personal with servicemembers and military bases during the past few weeks in connection with his new movie, “The Marine.”
The film follows a Marine honorably discharged from the service after disobeying an order that would have killed innocent civilians. While on a vacation to sort out what to do with the rest of his life, his wife (Kelly Carlson) is kidnapped by a band of thieves in need of a hostage for their getaway.
The movie doesn’t focus much on the military — it’s an action flick, with five gigantic explosions just in the trailer — but Cena said he’s happy to play a member of the military in a movie he’s sure servicemembers will love.
And even though the military connection is loose in the movie, Cena said, it helps provide a good backstory for his character: a man with morals and a sense of duty, but also a strong right hook and a working knowledge of weapons.
The 29-year-old kept up his normal training regimen during filming, even though his movie fights took a completely different toll on his body than his matches in the ring.
“There, you take a pounding, but it’s just for a short time,” he said. “With the movie, you could be filming a fight scene for six, 10, 12 hours. It really beats you up bad.”
He has already returned to his old routine of beating up others, reclaiming WWE’s World Heavyweight Championship title last month. But Cena has still taken some time out to promote the movie, and to spend time with the servicemembers he hopes will see it. On Oct. 3, Cena and other stars of the movie attended a special premiere at Camp Pendleton in California to let Marines get a sneak peak at their newest on-screen incarnation.
He and other WWE wrestlers have traveled overseas with Armed Forces Entertainment several times in the past few years, and Cena said the military crowds are his favorite.
“It’s a whole different crowd with them over there,” he said. “You get even more reaction from them. If we don’t go back as a group, I’m heading over there solo.”