The Marine 4: Moving Target (2015)

As an U.S. NAVY Sailor I shouldn't like Jar-heads (Stupid military tradition) but this movie is definitely an insult to Marines an all military in general. The poor acting can be questionable even by anyone who's never been in the military. Watching the first minutes of the movie let you see how predictable is going to be, and you wont be disappointed on that appreciation as you expect to be surprise thru the rest of the movie and it just keep getting more and more predictable. Hand-to-hand fights seen so fake that no even the drunkest highly trained marine would ever act like that. Mercenaries would even complained about this movie as they see how the ones in the movie hit the ground and trees 99% of the time while shooting. It just reminded me of the "The A-Team" TV Series. Any ex-military with no acting experience would have given this movie a way better "feeling."

"One in the Chamber" director William Kaufman's bullet-riddled actioneer "Marine 4: Moving Target" is an above-average, old-fashioned shoot'em up about an ex-Marine who must protect a Department of Justice witness from the villains. Clocking in at 90 minutes with minimal back-story, this R-rated action thriller is nimble and no-nonsensical from fade in to fade out. On his first day on the job with a civilian company of hired guns, Jack Carter (Mike 'The Miz' Mizanin of "Marine 3") has his hands full with a cynical doll, Olivia Tanis (Melissa Roxburgh of "Leprechaun: Origins"), who has the goods on a corrupt defense contractor named Genesis that sold defective bulletproof vests to the Marine Corps. Olivia doesn't trust anybody and for good reason after we learn that the team dispatched to safeguard her is dirty. Predictably, Olivia hates Jack, and they have a lively exchange of dialogue in the SUV before all Hell breaks loose and a trigger-happy shooter, Andrew Vogel (the skull-faced Josh Blacker of "Elysium") and his army of mercenaries take out everybody else except the traitor. Vogel and company show no qualms; they wipe out an entire police station in a small town in a hail of gunfire to eliminate Jack and Olivia. Eventually, when Olivia has a golden opportunity to flee from Jack on his instructions, she changes her mind about the jarhead and saves his bacon moments after Vogel's gunmen massacre everybody in the police station with extreme prejudice. The hot pursuit manhunt plunges our heroes and their adversaries into the woods and turns into a "First Blood" game of survival. Our hero contrives surprising bloody booby traps for the expendable villains. Mike 'The Miz' Mizanin makes a solid, sturdy hero. Blacker makes a suitably sinister opponent. Scenarist Alan B. McElroy offers some memorable but histrionic dialogue. "You either behind the gun or in front of it," Vogel says at one point. Furthermore, our brawny hero believes in battlefield salvage as he picks up his adversaries' weapons after he empties his own gun. Of course, the villains are near-miss marksmen when it comes to nailing the principals. As B-movies go, "Marine 4: Moving Target" delivers formulaic, standard-issue violence with a high body count but no nudity. Kaufman helms these far-fetched shenanigans with a nimble hand and the hand-to-hand combat scenes are gripping affairs.

After watching this fourth entry, I really feel that WWE Studios ought to call it a day with this series. To start off with, the plot of the movie is extremely familiar, concerning itself with the old story of a dedicated protector on the run with a female witness, and the two don't like each other at first... yawn. I know, I know - the plot doesn't really matter with movies like this. Other elements, like the actors and the action are what matter. Well, while I wouldn't call Mike 'The Miz' Mizanin a bad actor, his reading of lines comes across as really bland and mediocre for the most part, as if he wasn't very enthusiastic to be in this production. As for the action, I will admit that the hand-to-hand combat sequences are pretty well done, expertly choreographed and energetically directed and edited. Unfortunately, the hand-to-hand combat only happens a few times. Most of the action consists of one endless shooting sequence after another, which becomes boring and monotonous really fast thanks to their uninspired direction and editing. Apart from the hand-to-hand combat sequences, the only other decent thing about the movie is its look - it's fairly well photographed on picturesque locations in British Columbia.

Audiences should be aware that The Marine 4 is the epitome of B-movie, it has a simple premise and is designed to entertain with least amount of effort. To its credit, the movie does serve that purpose. It offers lots of shooting spree as well as decently choreography melee combat, even though some of its logic are admittedly flawed and the protagonists wear magical plot armors.Jake Carter (Mike Mizanin or The Miz) is starting a new job as a security guard for high value target, a whistle-blower by the name of Olivia Tanis (Melissa Roxburgh). Soon he realizes that the implication Olivia could do is far reaching, and he must do his best to keep her safe. Acting from The Miz is surprisingly good. He's a pretty suitable lead, creating the disheartened veteran persona well. This is better than most exaggerated roles of action genre, although he does look a bit confused at times.Matthew MacCaull as the antagonist is above the rest. He presents a conniving personality that presentably irritating. Melissa Roxburgh as the female lead however, is distinctly bad. Her character is supposed to be a brash woman with brave attitude, but it turns out to be an annoying and highly unsympathetic bickering damsel. The rest of cast is your typical mercenaries. Summer Rae makes an appearance as well, while she has so few lines, she does look the part of fit femme fatale.Plot and action are severely unrealistic. People are shooting for half of the movie, it's not even a hyperbole. Scenes are basically Jake and random mercs spraying bullets at each other, without the need of reloading and unsurprisingly Jake has far better accuracy. The fisticuffs are marginally better as the fights are choreographed with good impact.The Marine 4 is, as expected, ninety minutes of mindless shooting and punching, nothing more. It's not Bourne, but it will do for mindless fun.