WWE’s ‘The Marine 3’ falls short on delivering the goods

WWE Films brings its newest installment in their “Marine” series of films to Blu-ray and DVD via Fox Home Entertainment this week with “The Marine 3: Homefront” This time the role of marine is filled by WWE wrestler Mike “The Miz” Mizanin, inheriting the role from John Cena and Ted DiBiase Jr, playing the character of Jake Carter. Each new Marine film stars a new marine, character and actor, so how does Jake Carter and the Miz stack up in the series?

Marine 3: Homefront Blu-Ray Review

Starring: Mike “The Miz” Mizanin, Neal McDonough, Ashley Bell, Michael Eklund and Jared Keeso

Written by Scott Wiper and Declan O’Brien

Directed by Scott Wiper

Sergeant Jake Carter (Mizanin) of the Marine Corps’ Special Forces unit is returning home to his small rural town after a dangerous covert mission in Central America.  He’s looking forward to spending quality time with his two sisters, dependable Amanda (Camille Sullivan) and young, rebellious Lilly (Bell). Jake’s homecoming is short-lived when Lilly and her boyfriend are kidnapped and he’s forced to put his military skills to the test to save them.  Taken by Jonas Pope (McDonough), a former college professor turned extremist determined to unleash an elaborate terrorist attack on American soil, Carter will do whatever is necessary to save his sister and stop a madman before it’s too late.

In the ring Mizanin is a skilled talker and promo man that is able to sell a match or wrestling angle with ease. In the Marine 3, Mizanin looks out of place and lost most of the time. Miz’s limited fighting skills are front and center as they look rough, unpolished and not nearly skilled enough to even allow for suspended belief of him being a marine. The theory here was to fill the supporting roles so that Mizanin’s performance would hopefully not stick out as opposed to allowing him time to train for the film. And the while the cast is solid, the script lets most of them down as McDonough is reduced to 80’s bad guy clichés and Bell spend most of her time screaming. Eklund does manage a particular creepy henchman, but his death scene is laughably bad.

The action sequences also let down here as they are staged poorly. The final sequence reference earlier is laugh out loud terrible and involves a shootout in one the worst looking back alleys ever and a car that has explosives timed to explode having to be driven out of town! The ‘assault’ that Carter has to do on the boat where his sister is being held captive looks like it was designed by a high school film student shooting his first film. Without a strong script the action sequences must pick up the slack but unfortunately in the Marine 3 they just add to the film’s issues.

The Blu-ray includes a handful of behind the scenes featurettes that show details of the production, background on The Miz and his preparation for the film and another on the casting of a contest winner from WWE Wrestlemania Fan Expo contest and how he performed on set. Also included is a short video diary from The Miz himself.

In the line of The Marine films The Marine 3: Homefront is not the worst, this distinction still belongs to Ted DiBiase’s terrible turn in Marine 2, but John Cena’s original still ranks as the best. But starting with a film that is just passable and giving it 2 inferior sequels does not bode well for the series carrying on past this latest effort. Wrestling fans intrigued to see Miz in the role will may want to rent the film but with the Blu-ray selling for less than $20 on Amazon.ca a purchase is also pretty reasonably priced. The Marine 3: Homefront is a non-recommend.

1 ½ out of 5

Till Next Time

Movie Junkie TO

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