DTV Cinema - The Marine 2 (2009)

Director: Roel Reine

Cast: Ted DiBiase, Lara Cox, Michael Rooker, Temuera Morrison

Country: United States

Rating: R

Run Time: 96 min

DTV Cinema is a series dedicated to reviewing and discussing all things direct to video. Although one could easily take a direct to video at the same face value as a theatrically released film, they truly do differ in many ways, and represent their own sub-genre and fandom that makes them fun and unique to follow.

The Marine 2 is a WWE produced direct to video sequel to the terrible The Marine. The film is a sequel in name only as it loosely retreads the plot of the original, but with an entirely new cast and setting. In a sense, The Marine franchise is an anthology series in which a new actor plays a new Marine each film. John Cena is the first Marine, Ted Dibiase is the second Marine, and Mike The Miz Mizani is the third Marine. One would assume that a direct to video sequel to a theatrically released film with a different actor and lower budget would immediately be a weaker film. After all, John Cena and $20 million is more than what this film had to work with. However, DTV veteran Roel Reine* (Pistol Whipped, Death Race 2, Dead in Tombstone) does the best he can with his low budget and pumps out a film that is actually better than the original.

The Marine 2 exceeds where the original fails because Reine and star Dibiase take the material seriously. Instead of being a ridiculous piece of popcorn entertainment, The Marine 2 is a deadly serious action film with a gritty tone, small scaled setting, and violent action scenes to boot. Reine even avoids the pitfalls of the original by ditching unnecessary humor and keeping the plot focused and straightfoward. Unfortunately, the film is only better than the original by "that" much. Even though The Marine 2 features a serious tone and solid action, the film is dull from start to finish. There isn't an ounce of tension or originality in the entire film. DiBiase doesn't exude any charisma or talent either. With a dull "by the numbers" plot and a boring lead, The Marine 2 drags from start to finish. Still, I'd rather take the boring but violent The Marine 2 over the annoying and offensive The Marine any day.

This opening scene reeks of Antoine Fuqua's Shooter.

The Marine 2 opens with an action scene where the protagonist, Joe Linwood (Ted DiBiase) kills a bunch of people while on active duty; much like the opening scene in The Marine. We than jump to our main plot: Joe and his wife Robin (Lara Cox) decide to go on a vacation to a new hotel on an island in Thailand; Robin also has work to attend to on the island. Even though their vacation in the sunny tropics seems grand and all, boats full of terrorists raid the hotel and take everyone hostage in exchange for ransom. In the midst of the initial take over, Joe gets knocked unconscious and saved by fellow islander Church (Michael Rooker). When Joe awakes outside of the hotel grounds, he decides to wage a one man war against the terrorists and save both his wife and the other hostages.

The Marine 2 loosely adapts the original film's plot as it places the protagonist's wife into a hostage situation. However, the sequel does enough different in order to separate it from the original. Instead of being a large chase across a swamp a-la The Marine, The Marine 2 takes place entirely on one island within one hotel. The Marine 2 is yet another action film that can be added to the ever growing list of Die Hard knock offs with its "one man against many in one location" plot. I love that screenwriters Christopher Borrelli and John Morgan found a way to distinguish The Marine 2 from its predecessor this way. The villains are also written to be far more menacing and threatening than the pansy assed villains from the predecessor. I never once felt scared for John Cena's wife in the original film because her captors were a bunch of dumb idiots. However, the captors in this film are far more threatening thanks to their menacing outfits, martial arts skills, and large numbers.

Even though The Marine 2 is tonally an improvement over The Marine, the film drags from start to finish. There isn't an ounce of true tension in the entire film. It never once feels exciting, and only comes to life during its action sequences. Everything else though from the characters, to the dialog, to the plot is as routine as they come. It also doesn't help that every actor is duller than a brick too. Star DiBiase has no charisma or charm. Therefore, the man comes off like an emotionless robot who only comes to life when he kicks ass. Much like Cena, DiBiase fails in the drama department but excels during his action scenes. Lara Cox and Temeura Morrison (Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones) also come off extremely dull. Even though Morrison is especially dull, at least the actor portrays a villain far more menacing than Robert Patrick's ridiculous Rome character from The Marine. The only actor who seems to exude an ounce of charm or give an effort is character actor Michael Rooker (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Guardians of the Galaxy). Rooker is one of the few character actors who can make any character of his all the more memorable simply by playing his kind self.

Henry: Portrait of a Marine Helper

When I went into The Marine 2, I knew that I would be getting some sub-par to impressive action sequences for a DTV film simply because Roel Reine was directing. Reine has directed numerous DTV features and typically brings a good sense of action craftsmanship to every low budget film of his. And you know what, I got exactly that. The action scenes in the film range from dull and cheap to exciting and impressive. Even though The Marine 2 kicks some ass, its action scenes typically fall flat simply due to the low budget that Reine had to work with. For example, most of the film's explosion are poorly rendered computer graphics. It's a shame that the film didn't have the pyrotechnics budget of the original film because those fantastic explosions could have been put to great work in this slightly superior sequel. Most of the film's action scenes also lack a sense of tension and feel routine in their choreography. 

However, Reine delivers two very impressive standout set pieces that one would not expect to find in a film entitled The Marine 2 for goodness sakes. The first is a fantastic fight scene between DiBiase and two martial arts skilled members of the terrorist group. After the three exchange gun fire down a hallway, DiBiase takes cover behind a pillar. As the men fire away at the pillar and obliterate it to pieces in a slow motion scene that recalls The Matrix's exploding lobby pillars, the men eventually run out of ammo and result to rushing DiBiase. The three have a very good fist fight that combines the brutal Thai fighting style of The Raid films with the cool tracking shots of Children of Men. The scene is filled with numerous "Oh!" moments and concludes with DiBiase kicking one of the men's heads through a wooden plank (pictured below). The other great action scene of the film is the final foot chase in which DiBiase must out run Morrison on a wooden dock. The scene runs for a lengthy amount of time and feels very reminiscent to the climactic foot chase from Point Break.

Unfortunately, I have to dock The Marine 2 for its cheap score and lousy grey tint. Nothing screams direct to video more than a generic sounding score and a lame grey tint. Other sub-par direct to video films like Dragon Eyes and The Assassination Games also feature a similar grey tint in order to make their proceedings appear gritty. And I'm sorry, but a grey tint is the last thing that should be applied to a film set on a tropical island. I have never seen a more depressing looking vacation getaway in my life. There's just too much grey in The Marine 2 in general. Even star DiBiase wears a grey shirt and pants the entire movie!

DiBiase brings the pain in the sequel's stand out set piece.

I really don't have much to say about this one people. Even though The Marine 2 makes no major offenses, it is still nothing more than a routine and sub-par direct to video sequel (that also finds a way to surpass its theatrically released predecessor). I applaud Reine for making a tonally serious sequel that does more with its low budget than The Marine could with several million dollars. Unfortunately, no one really knows how to act and Reine doesn't know how to direct drama. Never the less, The Marine 2 makes for a sub-par action film that extremely die hard action fans might want to check out. If you can, simply look up the two action scenes that I raved about and stop there, that is all you really need to see.

Rating: 4/10 - A mildly entertaining but mostly dull DTV sequel that makes for a fun Die Hard rip-off as well.

Reviews In This Series:
The Marine (John Bonito, 2006)