***SYNOPSIS*** - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (TCFHE) and WWE Studios present The Marine 2 – the second installment of The Marine movie franchise. Inspired by a true story, The Marine 2 was shot entirely on location in Phuket, Thailand and stars WWE Superstar (Ted DiBiase) as Marine recon sniper Joe Linwood. Reminiscent of the 2001 Dos Palmas incident, Linwood’s trip to paradise with his wife is suddenly shattered when guerillas take control of a secluded five-star resort asking for a substantial ransom. The guerilla leaders begin murdering hostages as the clock ticks away, forcing Joe to use his expert skills to save the hostages from certain death.
***VIDEO QUALITY*** - Arriving in a full 1080p high definition transfer utilizing the AVC codec and presented in it's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, "The Marine 2" is stunner for fine details but is marred by soft focusing and what can only be described as artificial over sharpening.The already mentioned fine detail is well rendered with individual beads of sweat, pockmarks in faces, and the sharp, rocky caves of Thailand.Blacks are crushed limiting shadow detail creating an image that is at once noisy in nighttime scenes and lacks any sense of depth.I was hoping for a vibrant color palette due to the film being shot in Thailand but unfortunately the filmmakers decided to go for the unnatural,desaturated look.Overall the film has better production values than your average straight-to-video movie but is still lacking when compared to modern Hollywood films. 8/10
***AUDIO QUALITY*** - Action fans can rejoice with this DTS-HD MA 5.1 track, as it is a constant barrage of gunfire and explosions.Surround channels are almost constantly engaged with grenades rolling around, rockets whooshing by, and bullets pooping off and falling around the soundfield.This track isn't subtle and is more concerned with bombast than directionality.Bass is tight and really gets to show it's muscle with some wall shaking rumbles.Dialogue was clean and crisp but there were some occasions where it seemed mixed a little lower than rest of the track.A great lossless track that helps to overshadow any shortcomings in the video transfer. 9/10
***SPECIAL FEATURES*** -
* Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes (HD,26min)
* Extended Scenes (HD,9min)
* Deleted Scenes (HD,3min)
* Making the Cut: Deleted Shots Montage (HD,6min)