RADICAN’S WWE MOVIE REVIEW SERIES
“MARINE 3: HOMEFRONT”
RELEASED IN 2013 BY WWE STUDIOS

WWE Studios latest entry in “The Marine” series, “The Marine 3: Homefront,” features Mike “The Miz” Mizanin taking the lead role following in the footsteps of John Cena and Ted DiBiase playing Jake Carter, who left his small town to avoid working in the lumber yards and find a greater purpose by enlisting in the Marines in this straight to DVD and Blu-Ray release.

The story follows the usual path of a movie of this genre. Miz plays the tough guy Marine who comes home on leave and disapproves of what his sisters have done in his absence, particularly his younger sister Lilly, who is painted as a wild child of sorts. Miz’s parents have both passed away and his sisters are all he has to come back to now in the small town of Bridgeport, Washington.

The problem with most of the movie is the characters aren’t flushed out enough to make you care about their story. Miz isn’t very convincing at playing the tougher older brother role, and before the audience gets to know the likable parts of his character Jake, they are swept away into a series of action sequences.

Jake’s sister Lilly is with her boyfriend, who Miz doesn’t like, when they witness the murder of a man selling explosives to an extremist group. They both get kidnapped by members of a gang of extremists headed up by Jonas Pope played by Neal McDonough. Pope’s men take Jake’s sister and her boyfriend hostage on a large boat that double as their headquarters where they are planning a big strike on corporate leaders. Pope is on a crusade against corporate greed and his crusade seems to mean more to him than the value of human life.

The action picks up from there with Jake taking off in a car with a shotgun to find his sister. Eventually the F.B.I. gets involved along with Jake’s cop buddy friend Harken played by Jared Keeso. A series of reality bending events unfold as well. Somehow the members of the SWAT team that tries to infiltrate the terrorist’s headquarters are picked off one by one, yet when Miz’s character tries to infiltrate the boat himself, they can’t hit him through the side of a wooden crate or even when he’s exposed and wearing no body armor.

The script tries to add some depth to Pope by explaining his background and cause, but ultimately falls short in giving his character the depth it needed. McDonough is a recognizable face from television and film and he does a good job with the material given to him, but ultimately his character falls short because of the script.

Is Miz a bad actor? No, but as I stated earlier, this type of role doesn’t fit him. He’s never going to come across as a leading action movie star because of his size. Miz’s strengths as an actor are likely more suited for a supporting role in this type of movie. He delivers his lines well and didn’t seem out of place, but I think he has a future as an actor if he plays supporting roles that better reflect the work he did when he had a top heel run in WWE as a sarcastic jerk.

WWE has released some poor films in recent years with John Cena in “The Reunion” and Triple H in “Inside Out.” Cena and Triple H place high on the WWE Studios Scale of Awfulness when it comes to performances in a WWE Studios film. On the other hand, The Miz was not nearly as wooden or awkward in his role as Cena and Triple H were in their respective performances in The Reunion and Inside Out.

Although “Marine 3: Homefront” is not a good movie and Miz is miscast in the lead role, he did show some chops as an actor here and could definitely play a supporting role in future releases and not seem out of place. Unfortunately much like his current role in WWE, Miz is out of his element in “Marine 3: Homefront.”

You can purchase “Marine 3: Homefront” on DVD and Blu-Ray at most major retailers.

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