Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

The Marine 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Or, Trouble in Paradise

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater January 5, 2010

Forget, for a moment, that The Marine 2 is a straight-to-video sequel. Set aside the fact that it’s produced by WWE Films—yes, World Wrestling Entertainment Films—and that it stars third-generation pro-wrestler Ted DiBiase Jr., son of Ted DiBiase Sr., a.k.a The Million Dollar Man. Push aside, if you can, your niggling doubts that this is just a low-budget rip-off of Die Hard. Because I’m here to tell you, friends, that The Marine 2 is not just some chintzy, z-grade action film starring a hunk of man meat with the charisma of a sea sponge. No, it’s actually a marvelously realized reaction against colonialism in Southeast Asia, an emotionally riveting tour de force that grabs you by the jugular and just plain refuses to let go. It’s as if Francis Ford Coppola had…wait…what’s that? You’re not buying it? You think I’m just fluffing this opening paragraph because I’m dreading the process of writing 1,500 words on a film as inherently meaningless as The Marine 2? I give. You got me. The Marine 2 is everything you’d expect it to be judging by its WWE pedigree. I mean, take a look at that cover art. Ted DiBiase is screaming and firing a pistol, with a boat exploding in the background and an American flag proudly rippling overhead. You could call it big dumb fun if only it were fun.

Aqua-Marine

Mostly it’s just big and dumb. And, it seems to me, even a little racist, harkening back to ‘80s action movies where the bad guys are bad simply because they’re foreign. The film starts with two Marines on a rooftop glassing the hustle and bustle of the unnamed Southeast Asian city below. Our hero, Joe (DiBiase), puts down his binoculars, turns to his partner, and offhandedly remarks, “heart of darkness.” Really? Gotta love whitey and his racially charged literary references. You’re not in Apocalypse Now, buddy. Pretty soon the pad thai hits the fan as a bunch of arms dealers start firing grenades up at Joe, wounding a local boy who just happens to be on the rooftop. Joe hovers over the kid in a weepy don’t you die on me moment, while the score gets all cheese-tastic on us. It’s too late. The kid’s dead. If Ted DiBiase were 24’s Jack Bauer, he’d let out a piercing dammit here. But none of this matters to the actual plot of the film. This little prologue is just to convince us that Joe has been in the shit, as they say, that he’s seen things that weigh heavily on his soul. In the narrative hands of Band of Brothers or Generation Kill—and certainly in real life, where this stuff is happening to our soldiers every day—these kinds of moments can be powerful and life-altering. Here? More maudlin than anything.

After the botched mission, Joe gets a much-deserved 5-day leave of absence and goes to an “exotic” resort, where his wife Robin (Lara Cox) is planning a VIP party for her douchebag boss, the gajillionaire who built the place. My favorite quote from the film is when a tour guide is showing Joe and Robin around and tells them that, “as you know, our resort lies in close proximity to the volcanic corridor.” Joe shoots his wife a look. “Oh yeah,” he says, “everyone knows that.” Apparently Joe skipped the 7th grade geography class when they learned about the Ring of Fire around the Pacific Rim. Like I said, big and dumb. And not very original. The film channels Die Hard when a group of terrorists crash the swanky party, taking Robin, her boss, and a whole gaggle of shareholders hostage. The terrorists, led by Temuera Morrison—the dude who played Jango Fett in the Star Wars prequels—want… well, I’m not sure what they want, but they don’t like Westerners. Also, the film’s producers must think Americans can’t tell any Asian ethnicities apart, because the guys who make up the terrorist group represent a veritable U.N. summit of Asian nationalities. It’s funny to see an obvious New Zealander calling an obviously Japanese guy brother, even if he just means comrade. Anyway, Joe knows this is a mission only a Marine can handle, so he goes Commando and starts kicking ass with extreme prejudice, taking down Muy Thai martial artists with his big old American WWE dropkicks, and rivaling Walker, Texas Ranger for sheer choreographed ridiculousness.

DiBiase can obviously handle the action elements—though he moves with a kind of thick-necked gracelessness—but anytime he opens his mouth he sounds like he’s reading from a teleprompter. Not unexpectedly, what little conversation he has with the baddies has all the authenticity of a pre-bout, pro-wrestling trash talking session. Even worse is when he tries to get tender with Robin, like when he tells her, “You’re my home, and it doesn’t matter where I am.” Sigh. Lara Cox doesn’t have much to do except cry, scream, and look worried. Slightly more impressive, though, is Michael Rooker (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer), playing a former demolitions expert—or, “crazy ass powder monkey,” as Joe puts it—who gets re-enlisted to help save the day. Director Roel Reiné cuts the action with a distinct lack of energy, though the momentum does pick up near the end of the film for the requisite showdown. And I do have to give the producers credit for shooting on-location in Thailand, which gives the film more bang for its production value buck. I kept hoping DiBiase would run into DiCaprio on The Beach or that Tony Jaa would show up to bust some skulls, but alas, The Marine has to go it solo.

The Marine 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Marine 2, for what it's worth, has better production values than your average straight-to-video action fest—being shot on-location in Thailand certainly helps—but the film's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is a mixed bag. Occasionally the film lets loose with some impressive detail, like the stubble and beads of sweat on DiBiase's face or the craggy rocks in a beachside cave, but the image often suffers from either soft focus, which is an inherently source related issue, or over-sharpening, which produces slight haloing that's perhaps most noticeable on Temuera Morrison's closely shorn skull. More apparent, however, is the discrepancy between the quality of the daytime and nighttime scenes. Daylight exteriors tend to look okay, with the exception of overblown white highlights, but the night scenes and interiors are abuzz with a potent mixture of heavy grain and noise. Couple this with black levels that frequently crush— wiping out shadow detail—and you have an image that's gritty, chunky, and undefined. The black crush sometimes even creeps into the daytime sequences. In terms of color, the results are similarly uneven. While you'd think Thailand would offer a vibrant color palette—and you do see some nice turquoise ocean blues from time to time—the film goes too often for that dingy, desaturated action film look. There's one sequence where the foliage, which should be a lush green, looks half gray. Overall, The Marine 2 looks better than expected for a straight-to- video film, but it still looks cheap.

The Marine 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There's only two things you need to know about The Marine 2's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track: gunfire and explosions. Because really, for a full two-thirds of the film, that's basically all you're going to be hearing. And if this film's A/V package has one highlight, it's that this audio track serves up almost non-stop surround usage, with rockets ripping through the soundstage, exploding grenades sending showers of concrete raining from front to back, and bullets zipping every which way. There's more Whiz! Bang! Pow! here than in an episode of the Batman TV series. At the same time, the effects sound a bit canned, and the directionality is definitely more concerned with volume and quantity over precision. Dynamics are fairly solid— there's plenty of detail in the high end, bass is tight, and the LFE channel gets a few chances to rumble and roar—but dialogue seems too low in the mix on occasion, even when explosions aren't rendering all other sounds inaudible. Let's be honest though: you're not watching The Marine 2 to listen to Ted DiBiase talk. Action fans will happy enough with this mix.

The Marine 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes (1080i, 25:43 total)
The Marine 2 comes to the plate with an almost inordinate amount of behind-the-scenes featurettes for a straight-to-video offering, featuring interviews with director Roel Reine, star Ted DiBiase, and others. Includes Village Virtuoso: The Final Fight, The Last Resort: Inside the Terrorist Seige, East Meets West: Muay Thai Fight, Production Paradise: Filming in Thailand, Building a Legacy: Ted's Story, and Play by the Roels: Inside the Production.

Extended Scenes (1080i, 9:20 total)
Includes four extended "character beats."

Deleted Scenes (1080i, 2:43)
See more footage of Ted DiBiase in a shirt with a ridiculous collar.

Making the Cut: Deleted Shots Montage (1080i, 5:47)
Five minutes of random footage that hit the cutting room floor.

Muy Thai Fight Outtakes (1080i, 6:51)
A collection of full, unedited takes of the Muy Thai fight scene.

The Marine 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Unless you're undeterred by the fact that The Marine 2 is a direct-to-video sequel, produced by WWE Films, and featuring so-called superstar Ted DiBiase, I'd advise you to stay away from this dull trip to Thailand. The film's a collection of action movie cliché, and it fares only marginally better as a Blu-ray specimen, with solid sound but shaky video performance. The format is flooded with much better action offerings, so don't waste your time or money here.