"The Marine 2" is a follow up in name only to the 2006, John Cena vehicle, "The Marine." This time, fellow WWE wrestler Ted DiBiase Jr (the son of legend The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase) steps into the shoes of the title role as Joe. DiBiase Jr (credited as and referred to from here on out as simply, DiBiase) is an extremely intriguing casting choice as at the time he was a rookie, mid-card wrestler. It turns out, the role was originally intended for wrestler Randy Orton, who is more on the level of Cena in terms of star power in the WWE. Orton suffered an unfortunate broken collarbone and was replaced at the last minute by DiBiase. In many ways, DiBiase's presence is a welcome change from Orton, as the latter has a tendency to mumble and not clearly enunciate when delivering weekly promos.

While DiBiase delivers his lines very clearly, he also delivers them with zero emotion. DiBiase is one of the most wooden action stars I've seen, even by direct to video standards. Having to sit through 90-minutes of DiBiase spewing the most clichéd dialogue either with a flat affect, while grinning, or occasionally gritting his teeth, the limited range of Steven Segal becomes greatly appreciated. To DiBiase's credit, he does try to act at one point in the film, but resorts to the patented Christian Bale, "gravel voice" for two lines, before returning to a more comfortable balsa like delivery.

He's done no favors however, by the film's script, which takes 20 minutes to set up. After the standard opening action scene to show our hero's talents, Joe and his girlfriend travel to a lavish, exotic island resort, of unspecified Asian origin. There the two meet Church, played by Michael Rooker chomping a cigar in a fashion that would make George Peppard jealous. Church could have easily been renamed plot device, because that's all he is. The script not so subtlety sends Joe and his gal on a private boat tour of the island, where Church explains his background in the army as well as a hidden passage to the island resort. This couple with his side job of pyrotechnician, screams to the audience that our hero will assuredly find this information helpful later in the film.

Once the film picks up pace with a gang of masked terrorists led by Damo, played by none other than Temuera Morrison (I strongly urge you to check the guy out in "Once Were Warriors), a fine actor, who is absolutely wasted in this film. The local military is logically inept, and when a group of mercenaries hired by an outside party proves just as ineffective, naturally it's up to Joe to save the day; after all, the woman he loves is shockingly, being held captive. From here on out, viewers get bombarded with one mediocre action scene after the other. DiBiase is very credible in the few opportunities he gets to engage in hand-to-hand combat, but the director completely undermines these brief moments by having a duo of Muay Thai trained adversaries, pose like video game bosses.

The majority of the action revolves around wild gunfire, running, explosions, and more running. The explosions in particular really drag the movie down, as many are obviously CGI, so DiBiase can look like he's in real danger. When the CGI explosions aren't stinking up the screen, the viewer is struggling to make sense of where the characters are in relation to each other since the editing is haphazard and handheld cameras are overused. The story gets stretched out by plot twists which come like clockwork, before culminating in a laughable foot chase where our hero knocks down a foot bridge cover with multiple running forearm shots. Yes, you read that right, he knocks a wooden bridge cover down with his forearm. As if that wasn't absurd enough, the climatic mano-a-mano, duel to the death takes place on a boat loaded with dynamite, fuel, and a flare gun. After you've seen the bountiful buffet of explosions the film so consistently delivers, it doesn't take much brains to see where this is headed.

"The Marine 2" is by all accounts, an awful movie. The casting of DiBiase was likely the final nail in the coffin of the film's shot at having a success, before filming began. It's truly baffling that the son of one of wrestling's most charismatic men, manages to be a living, breathing, void of it here. It's not even unintentionally funny, it's just plain sad. As mentioned above, the one glimmer of hope, Temuera Morrison is an equal disappointment. His small attempt at acting quickly fades and he spends the majority of the film looking angry and yelling. Like this film as a complete package, he ends up being easily forgettable.

As Fox only provided a screener copy of the film, a proper review of the video quality cannot be given. Should a final copy be provided, this section will be updated to reflect the final version.

UPDATE:
The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer on the final consumer copy of "The Marine 2" leaves much to be desired. The beautiful South Pacific landscapes are marred by moderate digital noise reduction and a fairly noticeable level of edge enhancement. Colors are well reproduced and if it wasn't for the above problems, the jungle landscapes would pop with strong vibrancy. "The Marine 2" might not be a very good movie and only regarded as being of "direct to DVD" quality, but that doesn't excuse elementary problems on the transfer.


The Audio

As Fox only provided a screener copy of the film, a proper review of the audio quality cannot be given. Should a final copy be provided, this section will be updated to reflect the final version.

UPDATE:
The English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track on the final consumer copy of "The Marine 2" is a well-mixed, active track indicative of a bombastic, over-the-top action film. The film's numerous explosions give your system an adequate workout and the rear surrounds earn their keep during the major set pieces, such as the frantic terrorist assault that sets events into motion. Dialogue is well balanced amidst all the action and "Commando"-esque score. Spanish and Dolby 2.1 tracks are available as well as Spanish subtitles and English subtitles for the hearing impaired.

The Extras

In the extras category are a small collection of extended scenes, which either reiterate things said later in the film or look like takes that went on too long. Two deleted scenes are also included; both would have fit in the film's first twenty minutes, but do nothing but further highlight DiBiase's ability to even convince the audience he's excited about being on vacation.

"Making the Cut" is a montage of deleted scene cuts, which is preceded by an introduction, from the film's director. It plays out as an abridged version of the film and even then still manages to look second rate.

A collection of behind-the-scenes featurettes, totaling 25-minutes in length consists of your standard promotional, talking heads segments. Key aspects of the production are all touched upon and every one gives the impression that they were making a serious action film.

Lastly, is a series of outtakes from the film's one standout sequence: the Muay Thai fight. These outtakes consist of a series of multiple handheld and steadicam shots, with the entire collection introduced by the director.


Final Thoughts

I can't recommend "The Marine 2" for any reason at all. There are far better mindless action movies out there; fans of "The Marine" (yes, they exist; no I'm not one of them) as well as WWE fans should especially stay away, since there's no connection to the former and DiBiase sets the credibility of wrestlers as actors back more than a few years with his stale performance. Lame CGI explosions are only the final cherry on top of a garbage sundae being masqueraded as a movie. Skip It.