There are times when it's nice to just put a movie into the
DVD player and know from looking at the box art just what to expect. Simple
action films are the best of these. There is little doubt in your mind that
you're about to witness Shakespeare. No, you're going to watch a plot line
delivered and set up and then about 80 minutes of butt kicking action. This
film is that and nothing more but then it doesn't need to be.
This latest in the line of feature films from WWE of course
stars one of its wrestlers, this time Mike "The Miz" Mizanin as
Sergeant Jake Carter. As he explains in voice over he and his sisters were left
behind when their parents died and he took off to join the Marines. Part of a
special ops unit, he's been trained to be a killing machine from the start. His
sisters, on the other hand, stayed in the home they grew up in and have become
part of their home town.
Mike returns for a visit and has to adjust to a few changes.
For one, his best friend is now a Deputy Sheriff in town. Another is that the
older of his two sisters Amanda is dating him. And lastly his little sister Lilly
is dating a young guy who was always someone in trouble that Mike isn't happy
about. But he's trying to deal with it even though it leads to a small
confrontation.
Later in the film Lilly and her boyfriend are working on his
car near the river (why they chose here I have no idea) when they witness a
group of home grown terrorists murder a man before their eyes as a weapons buy
goes bad. They are captured quickly and taken hostage. Before being captured
Lilly was able to let Amanda know what was going on. Now Mike sets out to
rescue his sister.
But things become complicated when it turns out the FBI has
been watching this group all along. It turns out the leader is a college
professor turned extremist (Neal McDonough) who has made plans to blow
something up. Just what they haven't discovered yet, but the bombing is
supposed to go down today. Now they want Mike to stand back and let them handle
things. Come on, this is an action movie; we know up front that they'll screw
it up some way.
Of course they do and that's when Mike has to take things
into his own hands. Trained in counter terrorism techniques, he sets out to
take out the bad guy and rescue Lilly in the process. Along the way he ends up
getting help from her boyfriend who turns out to be a good kid after all. The end result is pretty much telegraphed
ahead of time since this is a by the book flick but it's satisfying as well.
There is no outstanding achievement in acting here but the
movie wasn't made as a showcase for that. What we have is some solid acting by
a cast that knows exactly what kind of movie they're making. But that doesn't
stop them from doing their best and coming off quite nicely. Most importantly
is the acting ability of Mizanin. He does a fine job here and shows the
potential to be not just an action star but a decent actor as well. Let's hope
he gets the chance to prove that.
Like I said from the start, the movie is predictable and
offers nothing new to the genre. Then again it never intended to. It was just
intended to be another WWE vehicle to make one of their stars a movie star and
to offer solid action entertainment for fans of the genre. The fact is they
deliver on all counts.
Click here to order.
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