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Sent in the Marines! Wait sent in the Marine 2! When
is a sequel not a sequel, if it shares only the name and
very basic premise of its parent. “Marine” was a pretty
good action film with Wrestling star John Cena. Since Wrestling
is essential acting with stunt men it’s no surprise that
many of their better performers (Dwayne Johnson, John Cena,
Stone Cold Steve Austin) have gone on to acting careers.
Ted DiBiase Jr. the star of “The Marine 2” does a credible
job in this sequel and the film although it meanders losing
much of its steam after a solid opening is still an enjoyable
action flick that probably could have used a bit more work
in the pacing department. ***
DiBiase plays Joe Linwood who spends his vacation working
when terrorists crash a VIP event that his wife is attending
and is taken hostage. Taking a page from “Die Hard” Linwood
tackles the terrorists one-by-one using his Marine training
to take down the bad guys, save his wife Robin and blow
things up real good! ***
While “The Marine 2” borrows from previous thrillers
(particularly the “Die Hard” films), the film manages to
be entertaining and diverting which is the least you can
ask for a rental. Unless you need to have a carbon copy
of five (six counting “The Marine”) films that you probably
already own, I’d suggest this is a fine rental but nothing
more. This is the type of flick you watch home alone when
you’re sick or when the weather is really crappy because
of the sub-tropical setting. ---
Image & Sound: I didn’t notice any major issues with
the Blu-ray transfer. Blacks are fairly solid throughout
and skin tones are nice. Compression artifacts if they are
there are minimal since I didn’t see them while I was watching
this Blu-ray. I accidently got the DVD as well so popped
that in and it does have some compression issues. Blacks
are a bit crushed in the DVD but as with the Blu-ray the
colors are accurate throughout and skin tones solid. ***
The audio sounds strong throughout with a nice 5.1
presentation. The surround speakers do come to life during
the action sequences and while they are a bit anemic in
some sequences over all they sound good. ---
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