The Marine

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
Studio	WWE Films
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release dates	October 13, 2006 (2006-10-13)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15 million[3]
Box office	$22,165,608[3]

The Marine is a 2006 American action thriller film directed by John Bonito, written by Michelle Gallagher and Alan B. McElroy, and produced by Joel Simon. The film stars John Cena, Robert Patrick and Kelly Carlson. It was produced by the films division of WWE, called WWE Studios, and distributed in the United States by 20th Century Fox.

Plot

The film opens with a sting operation in Iraq where Marine stalwart Sergeant John Triton (John Cena) is closing in on an Al-Qaeda hideout. Disregarding his superior's direct orders to wait for reinforcement, Triton attacks the extremists and rescues the American military hostages.

The next morning, after Triton is done exercising back at home base, his Colonel asks to speak to him. The Colonel regretfully informs Triton that he is being honorably discharged from the Marine Corps.

After returning home from Iraq, Triton finds it hard to settle back in to normal life. He gets a job as a security guard, but is fired on his first day due to using excessive force on a building employee's ex-boyfriend and his bodyguards, throwing the ex-boyfriend through a window. Triton's wife Kate (Kelly Carlson) decides the two need a vacation to help Triton ease into his new life. Meanwhile, criminal mastermind Rome (Robert Patrick) steals diamonds from a jewelry store with his gang: girlfriend Angela (Abigail Bianca), wildcard Morgan (Anthony Ray Parker), smart-mouthed Vescera (Damon Gibson), and Bennett (Manu Bennett). Rome is in collusion with an anonymous partner, with whom he is planning on sharing the profits from the diamonds. While running from the cops, the gang stops at a gas station where Triton and Kate are stopped. When two policemen in a patrol car arrive to get gas, Morgan believes they are there to arrest the gang, and shoots and kills one of the officers. To cover up the murder, Rome shoots the other officer and Angela kills the gas station attendant. Bennett knocks Triton out with a fire extinguisher. Kate is kidnapped. Morgan shoots at a gas pump, causing the store to blow up with Triton inside. Triton survives the explosion, takes the abandoned patrol car and a .38 revolver from the downed officers, and gives chase, with every single member of the gang shooting at him. The chase leads to a lake, where, under heavy fire, Triton falls out of the patrol car and into the lake, seemingly to his death.

Rome and his gang decide to travel through a swamp to avoid the police, with Kate as their hostage. Kate tries to escape several times, to no avail. Triton, having survived the accident, climbs out of the lake. Detective Van Buren (who is looking for Rome and his gang) denies Triton permission to pursue the gang, but Triton does anyway. After an altercation between Morgan and Vescera, Rome decides he has no further use for Vescera and shoots him, leaving his body for the alligators. Rome gets a call from his anonymous partner, and tells him that he intends to keep all of the profits, cutting the partner out of the deal.

The criminals eventually arrive at a lodge and decide to rest there for the time being. Meanwhile, Triton is kidnapped by two fugitives who believe he is a police officer looking for them. He subdues them both and tracks the gang to the lodge. He arrives and kills Morgan, who was sent out to turn on the electricity. He then kills Bennett when Bennett goes out to check on Morgan. As Triton drags the bodies under the lodge, he again meets Detective Van Buren, who appears to be there to help Triton take out Rome.

Kate takes advantage of the distractions and rushes out of the lodge, only to be pursued and captured by Angela. Triton crashes through the window and finds himself face-to-face with Rome. Van Buren enters the room but points his gun at Triton, revealing himself to be the anonymous partner. Rome opens fires on Triton, but Triton uses the corrupt Van Buren as a human shield, killing him. Rome makes his escape and joins up with Angela and Kate before firing at a gasoline tank and blowing up the lodge. Triton makes a narrow escape out the window.

Rome takes Van Buren's car and drives off, but because of the police monitor, they have to abandon it. Angela seduces then kills a truck driver for his truck. Triton is arrested by a sea patrol officer, but steals the officer's vessel after handcuffing him. He then heads for Rita's Marina, having earlier overheard that the marina is Rome's destination. Triton arrives at the marina and jumps on the truck. Kate is handcuffed in the backseat. He runs along the running board of the truck to the passenger seat, opens the door, grabs Angela and throws her into the windshield of an oncoming bus, killing her and spilling the diamonds. Rome scrapes Triton off the truck by driving into the side of a building, then careens through a warehouse, leaping out just before the truck crashes into a lake. Triton confronts Rome in the fiery warehouse and apparently kills Rome after a vicious battle. He rushes to rescue his wife, who is slowly drowning in the truck, drags her out of the water, administers CPR and revives her. A badly-burned Rome returns and chokes Triton with a chain. Triton kills Rome by breaking his neck with the chain, and the film ends with Triton and Kate kissing as the police arrive.

Cast

• John Cena as John Triton
• Robert Patrick as Rome
• Kelly Carlson as Kate Triton
• Anthony Ray Parker as Morgan
• Abigail Bianca as Angela
• Damon Gibson as Vescera
• Manu Bennett as Bennett
• Jerome Ehlers as Van Buren

Production

The Marine was originally written with Academy Award-winner Al Pacino in mind for the part of Rome, the criminal and Stone Cold Steve Austin as Triton, the lead. After Austin and WWE parted ways in 2004, the role of John Triton was given to John Cena. Al Pacino turned down the role of Rome due to the low salary offered. After Pacino turned it down, Ray Liotta was considered for the role of Rome, but Robert Patrick got the part instead.

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 written after Carlito beat Cena for the WWE United States Championship, saying that he was stabbed by Jesús, the bodyguard of Carlito and was taking time off to recover.

Filming was done at Movie World Studios in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The Marine Base was filmed at Bond University. The part in which skyscrapers are shown is the downtown area of Brisbane, Australia. Other footage was shot in bush land surrounding Brisbane. The opening segment of the downtown scenes was filmed in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

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 released to theaters on October 13, 2006.

Box office

In its first week, the film made approximately $15.1 million at the United States box office.^[4] In its first weekend, it placed #3 in domestic sales, then rising to #1 the next weekend.

After a total of ten weeks in theaters, the film grossed $18.8 million domestically.^[4]

The Marine was at one time noted as being WWE Studios's most successful film, beating out its predecessor See No Evil, starring Kane, and its successor The Condemned, starring Stone Cold Steve Austin.

It would later be surpassed by The Call, starring Halle Berry and WWE wrestler David Otunga.

Critical response

The film received generally negative reviews, holding a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 46 reviews, with the site's general consensus stating "Overblown in every possible way, The Marine is either so bad it's good or just really, really bad."

Home media

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.

The Marine was the number one most rented DVD in its first week of release.^[5] By March 2007, it had made over $24 million in home sales and rental.^[6] Overall, the film made $30 million in rentals in the first twelve weeks.^[4]

Sequels

The Marine 2, starring Ted DiBiase, Jr. (son of the wrestler 'The Million Dollar Man', Ted DiBiase), was released on December 29, 2009 as a Direct-to-DVD and Blu-ray film. DiBiase portrays Sgt. Joe Linwood, a US Marine Force Recon sniper on vacation with his wife, Robin (played by Lara Cox), in South East Asia. The plot of the film is terrorists take over the entire resort, holding everybody hostage, including Linwood's wife, Robin, leaving it up to Linwood to rescue them. A third installment to the series starred The Miz titled The Marine 3: Homefront was released on March 5, 2013.

Other cast members include Temuera Morrison (as Damo, the main antagonist), Robert Coleby (as Darren Conner), Michael Rooker (as Church), Kelly B. Jones (as Cynthia) and local stars Dom Hetrakul (as Calob), Marina Ponomareva (as Lexi), Thienchai Jayasvasti (as Thickset), Seng Kawee (as Bantoc), Supoi Khaowwong (as Blondie) and Sahajak Boonthanakit (as Shoal).

Randy Orton was originally set to be the main character. Orton turned down the role because of his bad conduct discharge from the Marines in the late 1990s, and was replaced by John Cena.^[7]

References

External links

• The Marine at the Internet Movie Database
• The Marine at Rotten Tomatoes