The Marine 3:
Homefront (2013)
Review by Jude
Felton
When watching
a movie, I find it is always good to go in with absolutely no expectations.
Really, it doesn’t matter if you have been looking forward to the movie or not;
whether it’s a potential blockbuster or the latest indie flick. Keep those
expectation levels at bay. The reason I say this is because I made the mistake
of going into The Marine 3: Homefront expecting not a lot.
The main
reason I expected very little is down to the casting of Mike Mizanin, or The
Miz, in the lead role. Let’s face it, his character in the WWE Universe, is
bloody obnoxious. Well, it actually seems like the WWE, who produced this
movie, seem to know what they are doing, because believe it or not The Miz is
remarkably watchable in this. More on that later though.
Back in 2006
the WWE thrust John Cena into the movie world, in The Marine, and the results
were average at best. They followed this up in 2009 with The Marine 2, starring
Ted Dibiase Jr., which I skipped. Obviously the movies did well enough for a
third to be made, and so we have Homefront.
The plot is
classic 80s faire; the one man army taking on all-comers. It’s simple and
straight to the point. Hell, the 80s was made up of stuff like this. In
Homefront, Jake (The Miz) has returned from active duty for some time with his
family. He has a little trouble getting back into the swing of things, and
throws his weight around, especially when it involves his younger sister, Lilly
(played by Ashley Bell).
Things take a
turn for the dramatic though when Jonah Pope (Neal McDonaugh) and his gang of
anti-capitalist terrorists kidnap Lilly and her boyfriend. From here on in you
know exactly where the film is going. Okay, so you can throw in some useless
Feds, the town Sheriff, who is also Jake’s best friend and some other little
odds and sods, but really what you are getting is The Miz kicking some ass,
while McDonaugh chews scenery. Golden.
There’s
nothing original here whatsoever, but it is carried out with a real enthusiasm
and it’s actually good dumb fun. The Miz, as I mentioned, is surprisingly good
in his role. I mean, he isn’t going to win any awards for his acting, but the
balance between the scenes of wholesale violence and the more down to earth
moments are executed pretty well by him.
The Marine 3:
Homefront is more fun than it really should be, although I have to give credit
where it’s due. These sort of films aren’t made all that often now, as they are
probably considered too dumb, but what the hell is wrong with dumb every now
and then? The target audience is no doubt teenage males, or young adults, and I
can see them enjoying this. Hell, I’m an old fart and I had fun with it.
I did have a
problem with some of the exterior battle scenes, as they seemed to be filmed
using a different camera, resulting in a very distracting and piss-poor look to
them. Aside from that it all looked fine and dandy.
The Marine 3:
Homefront is just a fun action film. Snobs will loathe it, of that I am sure,
but I am of the opinion that mindless fun is just okay with me on occasion. Do
not expect any wheel re-inventing, or anything else remotely bordering on
thought provoking (although you could look at Pope’s views on capitalism as
mildly thought provoking), and just take it for what it is. Yes, I am surprised
as well, although I know my eldest love will no doubt love this. This is the
sort of film that Red Dawn would like to have been, albeit on a smaller scale.
To sum up The
Marine 3: Homefront I will just say this; the film closes the final scene with
a fucking power ballad. Yep, that’s the territory we’re in here, folks.
The Marine 3: Homefront is released by 20th Century Fox and is available now on Blu-ray and DVD.
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