The Marine 4: Moving Target

"Do you trust me now?" Jake Carter (Mizanin) is a marine who is charged with protecting Olilvia Tanis (Roxburgh), a high profile whistle blower who has numerous death threats against her. When someone in Jake's organization is revealed to be a traitor he has to not only fight off the traitor but also keep Olivia safe so she can testify. This is a movie that is pretty much what you expect. An hour and a half of stuff blowing up and violence with a little plot. The main problem with these movies is that there is really no suspense. When you get to the fourth movie in a series you pretty much can predict how it will go from the beginning. This is no exception. On the other hand though, I have seen much worse direct to DVD sequels and this one was at least entertaining enough to keep me awake. Overall, another unnecessary sequel, but one that is at least watchable. I have seen, and expected, much worse. I give this a B-.

"The Marine 4: Moving Target" succeeds as mindless entertainment. It is related only thematically to "The Marine" (2006), sharing only the basic common elements: a highly capable and decorated former marine attempting to adjust to civilian life, a damsel in distress and a group of ruthless villains with enough firepower to invade the Falklands.

It was produced on a tenth of the budget of the original and its limitations are obvious. The fight choreography is solid, although not of the caliber seen in "Furious 7" or "The Raid." Car chases are fairly lame, on the level of television dramas. The script is an embarrassment, particularly compared to the clever plots developed for the "12 Rounds" movies. Dialogue is hackneyed. Character development is essentially nonexistent. The plot is a rehash of "Eraser" without the locations, character backgrounds, special effects and (thankfully) without that ridiculous portable rail gun.

Given that they haven't anything particularly interesting to say, the actors do a credible job. Mike 'The Miz' Mizanin is believable evincing the virtues of the Marine Corps while feeling awkward in civilian life and uncertain of how to act without clear orders. Josh Blacker is convincing as the relentless, remorseless adversary. They are both adept in the fight scenes. Melissa Roxburgh is not the most gifted thespian to grace a WWE production, but is believable when she stands around looking gorgeous and slightly vulnerable. However, she wears too many clothes throughout. A little more skin would have made her seem more vulnerable and boosted the sexual tension. MacCaull and Moinet do as well as can be expected with what they're given.

The producers might have gotten more bang for their limited bucks by investing more in script development to make the characters more complex, interesting and sympathetic. As a mindless vicarious adrenalin fix, the fight scenes are satisfying and occur with sufficient frequency to compensate for the disappointing car chases and gun battles.

OK, granted I love shoot em up movies for the mindless entertainment on rainy days curled up with popcorn and no expectations for great performances. But this is a waste of talent and nothing more than proving script writers without talent can ruin an actor's career.. The Miz, a better actor than this movie deserves, struggles with the poor plot and Summer, well I am not sure why she is even in this movie other than to mumble a few lines. I would have refused the role as it is a career buster and not career enhancer. She could have had a real role other than jumping into and out of scenes cocking a gun. I am a WWE fan and have seen what good movie scripts and talented wrestlers can do together. This is not one of them. Sorry, no spoiler as the movie is so predictable and lame, it gives itself away. I hope Miz and Summer ( I am a huge fan of both ) find better movie opportunities despite their contract obligations to appear in such trash.

Forget the original movie The Marine. This movie provides a lot of action in the style of The Terminator. Sure, it will not win an Oscar but the plot is somewhat believable and the acting is good. I found it to be very entertaining.

If your not in the mood for a Drama and just want to kick back and watch a simple action fil then this is your flick. B movie, low budget but I watched it as I was going to sleep.. I didn't want to have to think and just sat back and enjoy the suspense and fun battles which do not stop. The good guy(s) protecting a beautiful Brunette w/ Blue eyed young woman and they're intent on n getting her for being a whistleblower. Eye candy, lol. This is a guys flick, few ladies will enjoy it. No back story at all lol, just good old fashioned shoot em up low budget film. If you turn it on to watch with your girlfriend or wife.. she's gonna bail on you in less than 2 minutes. Again, it's a fun watch if your in a mindless, sleepy mode and are to tired to delve into a 'real movie' then this is your show. I thought it was fun enough to rate it a 7 to offset the haters and thought enough of it to comment on it after watching it as I fell asleep last night. There are so many crappy B movies that aren't worth watching.. the names Steven Seagal, Chuck Norris and David Spade come to mind. But there's nobody you've ever seen before here and it's some simple good late night fun to keep you awake as your eyes are fading to sleep. If that's ok then give it a shot, but don't watch it as your main event if the evening, then get mad and send a silly hate review afterward. If you can't figure out before you watch it, that it's a B movie non stop action, shooting and campy type flick then you must not have checked out before you watched it😊