The Marine (Film)
From Iwe
| The Marine | ||
 Poster for The Marine | ||
| Directed by | John Bonito | |
| Produced by | Vince Matteson Joel Simon | |
| Written by | Michelle Gallagher Alan B. McElroy | |
| Starring | Dustin Simpson Robert Patrick Kelly Carlson | |
| Music by | Don Davis | |
| Cinematography | David Eggby | |
| Studio | IWE Studios | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox | |
| Release date(s) | October 13, 2006 | |
| Running time | 92 minutes | |
| Country | United States | |
| Language | English | |
| Budget | $22 million | |
| Box office | $18,844,784 | |
The Marine is a 2006 American action film starring wrestler Dustin Simpson. The film was directed by John Bonito, written by Michelle Gallagher and Alan B. McElroy and produced by Joel Simon. It was produced by the films division of IWE, called IWE Studios, and distributed in the United States by 20th Century Fox.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
At an Al Qaeda secret hideout in Iraq, U.S. Marine John Triton (Dustin Simpson), is seen observing his fellow Marines being beaten by terrorists. John's commander orders him to wait for backup but Triton says there's no time for that. Just as the terrorists are about to execute the Marines, Triton attacks and kills the terrorists. When John and his comrades escape, they see parts of Al Qaeda's hideout set on fire.
The next morning, after he is done exercising, John's Colonel asks to speak to him. The Colonel informs John that he is being honorably discharged from the Marine Corps.
After returning home from Iraq, Triton gets a job as a security guard that doesn't last long due from him using his military fighting skills to assault a man who was asked to leave for making disturbing comments to his ex-girlfriend and for destruction of prompt as he and another guard fought the female worker's ex-boyfriend and his bodyguards. John and his very attractive wife Kate (Kelly Carlson) decide to take a vacation. Meanwhile, criminal mastermind Rome (Robert Patrick) robs a jewelry store with his accomplices: his attractive girlfriend Angela (Abigail Bianca), Morgan (Anthony Ray Parker), Vescera (Damon Gibson), and Bennett (Manu Bennett). While running from the cops, they stop at a gas station, where John and Kate have stopped as well. When a patrol car arrives to fill up, Morgan murders one of the officers while Rome injures the second officer. After Bennett knocks John out with a fire extinguisher, Kate is kidnapped. Morgan shoots at the gas tanks, causing the store to blow up with John inside. John survives, emerging to take the abandoned patrol car. He gives chase, with every single member of the gang shooting at him. They go through a construction area, and to the edge of a lake. Under heavy fire, John falls out of the car and into the lake.
The criminals decide to travel through the swamps to avoid the police, still with Kate as their hostage. John revives and, despite an officer denying him permission to, he continues to pursue them. After an altercation between Morgan and Vescera to show how crazy Morgan is, Rome decides that they have no further use for Vescera and shoots him, leaving the body for the alligators. Kate gets into heated arguments with the group, Angela especially, who strikes Kate whenever she insults her or tries to escape.
The criminals eventually arrive at a shack and rest there for the time being. Triton gets delayed when some fugitives attack him. 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, with a knife that Vescera dropped when he was killed. He then kills Bennett when he goes out to check on Morgan, beating him down and stomping on his neck. As he drags the bodies under the shack, the police officer he met earlier "grants" him further permission to do what he must and turns off the electricity for a distraction.
Kate takes advantage of this and rushes out of the building, only to be pursued and captured by Angela. John crashes through the window and meets Rome for the first time in his journey. The cop also enters the room and points his gun at John, revealing himself to be working with Rome the whole time (and thus the mystery individual Rome tried to cut out of the deal in an earlier phone call). Rome opens fires at Triton, but he uses the corrupt cop (V.B.) as a human shield. Rome makes his escape and joins up with Angela and the still captured Kate before firing at a gasoline tank and destroying the shack. John makes a narrow escape out the window.
Rome takes V.B.'s car and drives off, but because of the police monitor, they have to abandon it, and Angela hitchhikes and shoots a truck driver to steal his trailer-less. John is arrested by an officer in a boat and steals the vessel after handcuffing the officer, heading for Rita's Marina (the destination he heard the criminals speaking of earlier). John arrives and sees the truck cab, jumping onto the back. He then sees a bus heading the opposite direction and runs along the running board of the truck to the passenger seat where he opens the door, grabs Angela by the breasts, and throws her into the bus's windshield, killing her and spilling the diamonds with her blood on them. Rome then knocks John off the truck by driving into the side of a building and careens through a warehouse, leaping out before the truck crashes through a window into the lake beyond. Triton confronts him in the fiery warehouse and thinks he kills Rome by burying him in debris after a vicious battle. He rushes to rescue his wife, who is handcuffed inside the sinking truck cab, dragging her from the water and administering CPR successfully. A very badly-burned Rome returns and chokes him with a chain. John turns the tables and breaks Rome's neck with the chain and the scene ends with John and Kate kissing as the police arrive.
[edit] Cast
- Dustin Simpson 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
[edit] Production
The script for The Marine was originally written with Academy Award-winner Al Pacino in mind for the part of Rome, the criminal and Stone Cold Steve Johnson as Triton, the lead. After Johnson and IWE parted ways in 2004, the role of John Triton was given to Dustin Simpson. 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, which was given to Robert Patrick.
Principal photography for the film was actually shot and completed in 2004. In order to cover for Dustin Simpson's absence from IWE events, a storyline was written after Carlito beat Simpson for the IWE 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 Movieworld 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, in addition to being filmed throughout the outer areas of the metropolitan area in bush land. The opening segment of the downtown scenes was filmed in [[Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
[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 released to theaters on October 13, 2006.
[edit] Box office
In its first week, the film made approximately $15.1 million at the United States box office. 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.
The Marine is noted as being IWE Studios's most successful film to date, beating out its predecessor See No Evil, starring Kane and its sucecessor The Condemned, starring Stone Cold Steve Johnson.
[edit] Critical response
The film received generally negative reviews, holding a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics have also applauded that the movie had raised dramatization of Marine operations in Iraq, saying "shows how life is for them, you know?".
[edit] 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. By March 2007, it had made over $24 million in home sales and rental.
