The Marine 2 (Roel Reiné, 2009)

Affected by an accidental death on duty, marine Joe Linwood (Ted DibBiase) has left the service behind to enjoy a romantic getaway with his wife.

When local rebels led by Damo (Temuera Morrison) take their resort hostage, Linwood has to draw on his old skillset to save his wife and the other hostages.

Released direct-to-video in 2009, The Marine 2 established the (brief) premise of the series - a Marine stumbles into a specific location and has to deal with a set of bad guys.

It is an acknowledgement of off-screen economy, and a solid starting place for a refillable franchise, where the only recurring element is a Marine as the hero.

Sadly, that is where the good decisions end with this movie.

The Marine 2 serves as an artifact of action movie trends.

If the previous movie felt like a retread of 90s action tropes, this movie reaches for shaky camera-work and a bleak colour grade.

The opening scenes set in Thailand look terrific - clearly director Roel Reine and DoP Joost van Starrenburg are establishing a contrast for when the action starts. I have a feeling the movie would have been more effective without the shift to vaguely brown.

The story is also based on a true story - combined with the aesthetic, there is an exploitative quality to this movie that is hard to reconcile with the Die Hard-style plotting and action cliches.

Taking over for John Cena, Ted DiBiase Jr is, to be polite, miscast.

 

Cena’s John Triton was a sketch of an action hero - DiBiase is more like one of those stick man drawings.

The character is traumatised but DiBiase Jr is bringing no energy. He whispers his lines with the same blank stare for the duration of the movie - he is a more compelling screen presence than Chuck Norris, but so is the tree across my street.

 

The film does boast some acting to write home about - Temuara Morrison gives DiBiase a lesson in smoldering screen presence, while the always great Michael Rooker brings a dollop of personality as an old veteran who becomes DiBiase’s friend.

 

There are some nice action beats - there are a couple of extended takes during the main hand-to-hand combat scene which are good - but the overall impression one comes away with is that DiBase is a very lucky Marine, rather than a great one.

Part of it is physicality - DiBiase moves stiffly and without a sense of urgency. But the character is also a walking cliche. It needs a performer with personality to make that character interesting.

It gets disconcerting during the final fight scene when DiBiase has to share the screen with Morrison, who is better at choreography and acting the emotion of combat.

Linwood's blankness and lack of physical prowess does feel like an unintended critique of the Marines. It does not help that the bad guys have a better reason for what they are doing than Linwood does. They are locals who are - despite their ruthlessness - fighting for their home island. If Linwood was more charismatic - and the action more exciting - it might be have been easier to ignore.

In its favour, the camerawork becomes more functional as the movie goes on, which leads to some more interesting action. However, I found the editing disconcerting. There is a lack of continuity between shots, and also a lack of establishing shots to clarify where our Marine is in relation to the bad guys. Roel Reiné has become a veteran on the DTV action scene, and he has done some good work - you can see Fists of Vengeance on Netflix now - but this movie is not a great showcase.

In the end Marine 2 is too bland and grim to recommend. The long shots of the Thai locations are nice though.

CURRENT RANKING

1. The Marine 5: Battleground (old review)

2. The Marine 6: No Quarter (old review)

3. The Marine

4. The Marine 2

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