The Marine

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The Marine
Poster for The Marine
Directed by	John Bonito
Produced by	Vince McMahon Joel Simon
Written by	Michelle Gallagher Alan B. McElroy
Starring	John Cena Robert Patrick Kelly Carlson
Music by	Don Davis
Cinematography	David Eggby
Editing by	Dallas Puett
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	October 13, 2006 November 30, 2006 June 28, 2007 March 1. 2007 May 7. 2007
Running time	93 mins
Language	English
Budget	$23 million
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Marine is a 2006 action film starring professional wrestler John Cena. The film was directed by John Bonito, written by Michelle Gallagher and Alan B. McElroy and produced by Joel Simon.

Produced by the films division of World Wrestling Entertainment, called WWE Films, and distributed in the United States by 20th Century Fox, the film received a PG-13 rating from the MPAA for "intense sequences of violent action, sensuality and language". However an unrated version was released on DVD and Blu-ray.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Writing
4 Filming
5 Release
6 Box office performance
7 Criticism
8 DVD Sales
9 Sequel
10 References
11 External links

[edit] Plot

The film centers around former US Marine John Triton (John Cena) who is discharged for disobeying a direct command in order to save three of his fellow marines while serving in Iraq.

After returning home, he finds work as a security guard. Not used to life outside of the Marines, he becomes depressed. His wife Kate (Kelly Carlson) suggests they take a trip to South Carolina to spend some time together and take their minds off of things. In the midst of their trip, they find themselves caught in the crossfire of a shootout between police officers and diamond thieves in a gas station. The thieves, led by Rome (Robert Patrick), kidnap Kate and blow up the station in order to facilitate their escape.

Triton commandeers a police vehicle and starts a pursuit of the thieves to save his wife. When Van Buren, a police detective, appears to want to help Triton, he later reveals himself to be another business partner of Rome's. Triton continues to pursue Rome and finds him in an abandoned bar by a lake. There, he kills most of the thieves but before he can save his wife, Van Buren shows up, angered that Rome has cut him loose.

With this distraction, Rome's girlfriend Angela drags Kate out of the bar and puts her in the trunk of their car. Back inside, Rome kills Van Buren and then blows up the bar, Triton narrowly escapes. Rome and Angela steal a truck in order to get rid of their car and then handcuff Kate inside. Triton soon catches up with them and tosses Angela out the window of the cab.

Before he can climb in however, they arrive at a marina and Rome ends up driving the truck into the bay with Kate still inside. He jumps out and attacks Triton. They fight in the now flaming marina until eventually, Rome is seemingly killed when he is crushed by a pile of flaming debris. Triton then jumps into the water to save Kate. He pulls her from the truck, aware that she is unconscious and begins CPR. At first there is no response, but he is determined not to give up. His efforts prove right and Kate comes to, alive and well. The danger is not over however, as Rome suddenly appears, horribly burnt, and wraps a chain around Triton's neck. Triton retaliates by pulling the chain off, putting it around Rome's neck, and flipping him over, breaking his neck. As sirens wail, John comments that they should have just gone to the beach.

[edit] Cast

Actor/Actress	Role
John Cena	John Triton
Robert Patrick	Rome
Kelly Carlson	Kate Triton
Anthony Ray Parker	Morgan
Abigail Bianca	Angela
Damon Gibson	Vescera

[edit] Writing

Ratings
Australia:	M
Brazil:	18
Canada:	14A
Canada (Quebec):	13+
Finland:	K-15
Germany:	16
India:	U/A
Philippines:	PG-13
Portugal:	M/12
Singapore:	PG
United Kingdom:	15
United States:	PG-13

The script for The Marine was originally written with Stone Cold Steve Austin in mind for the lead role of John Triton. After Austin and WWE parted ways in 2004, Dave Batista and Kurt Angle were considered for the role of John Triton, which was eventually given to John Cena.

[edit] Filming

Principal photography for the film was actually shot and completed in 2004. In order to cover for John Cena's absence from WWE events a storyline was right after Carlito beat Cena for the United States Championship, was written that he was stabbed by Jesús, the bodyguard of Carlito and was taking time off to recover.

Filming was done at Movieworld in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The Marine Base was filmed at Bond University. Nonetheless, about 12 minutes into the movie the skyline of Calgary, Alberta, Canada is clearly visible, even though the film is set in South Carolina.

The footage of an airplane landing is of Iran Air.

[edit] Release

Originally planned for a January or February 2006 release, it was later moved to Spring 2006, then September 8 (which was changed because former professional wrestler The Rock's Gridiron Gang was released September 15). It was finally released to theaters on October 13, 2006.

The film was released on DVD on January 30, 2007. It is available in "Rated" and "Unrated" versions. The Blu-ray version was released on February 13, 2007, with a DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 track and a 1080p HD transfer. The Region 2 DVD was released in the UK on May 7, 2007.

[edit] Box office performance

In its first week, the film made approximately $7 million at the United States box office.^[1] In its first weekend, it placed #3 in domestic sales. On October 22, 2006 BoxOfficeMojo.com reported that The Marine had dropped to #9, grossing $3.75 million. Even so, ratings were poor, and the movie garnered a 21% rating from RottenTomatoes.com.

After a total of ten weeks in theaters, the film grossed $18.7 million domestically.^[1] Worldwide, The Marine earned $20,226,432.

[edit] Criticism

The movie was largely panned by critics,^[2] leading one reviewer to refer to it as "a movie so dumb, it may actually cause brain damage." ^[3]. Critics have also complained about the movie's reductive dramatization of Marine operations in Iraq, ^[4] and its lack of respect for the military. ^[5]

[edit] DVD Sales

The Marine was the #1 most rented DVD in its first week of release.^[6] By March 2007, it had made over $24 million in home sales and rental.^[7] Overall, the film made $30 million in rentals in the first twelve weeks.^[1]