THE MARINE 5: BATTLEGROUND (2017) ** ½

WrestleMania was this weekend.  While I haven’t followed wrestling in a long time, I still watch WWE’s DTV action movies on a semi-regular basis.  To celebrate this year’s WrestleMania, I figured I’d watch a WWE flick I haven’t seen yet.  After much deliberation, I finally settled on The Marine 5:  Battleground.  The fact that I haven’t seen The Marine 4, and have only hazy recollections of the three previous Marines didn’t stop me from checking it out.  Turns out it was a hair or two better than you’d expect.

The Marine (Mike “The Miz” Mizanin) is now working as an EMT.  On his first night on the job, he gets a call to an abandoned amusement park where he finds a gunshot wound victim in dire need of medical attention.  Unfortunately for him and his partner (Anna Van Hooft), their patient just pulled a hit on the leader of a nefarious biker gang, and his loyal legion of motorcycle-riding marauders are in hot pursuit.  

The set-up is actually pretty great.  It’s basically Assault on Precinct Beverly Hills Cop 3.  Too bad much of the action takes place in a parking garage.  Although it never quite lives up to its potential and features very little amusement park action (probably due to budget constraints), we do get a great scene where The Miz squares off with a biker baddie in a haunted house ride.  It’s also odd that the finale takes place in an office building that’s under construction.  I guess they couldn’t get a permit to film on the rollercoaster.  

Luckily, the fight scenes are handled well enough.  The camerawork isn’t of the shaky-cam variety, and the editor resists the temptation to cut the fights to ribbons.  They also feature all the wrestling moves in everyday places you’d expect from one of these things.  I particularly liked the fight scene where The Miz tussles with a badass biker babe (WWE wrestler Naomi) that STARTS with him sizzling her with defibrillator paddles, which annoys her more than anything.  Naomi has a striking appearance and is more than capable in her fight with The Miz.  Hopefully, she’ll get her own WWE DTV action vehicle somewhere down the line.

They’ll never be another “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, that’s for sure, but as wrestlers-turned-action-heroes go, The Miz isn’t too bad.  What he lacks in charisma he makes up for in physical prowess.  I probably wouldn’t miss the chance to see him in The Marine 6 (which is a thing that actually exists).