Retired Marine Jake Carter (Mike ‘The Miz’ Mizanin) is back in this fourth, action-packed installment of the The Marine franchise, The Marine 4: Moving Target. It’s Jake’s first day on the job working for Global Hathorne Security, and he’s been assigned to a detail hired to protect a valuable Department of Justice asset. Olivia Tanis (Melissa Roxburgh) is a whistleblower and former employee of Genesis Defense Corporation, who has information on some traitors inside the company.

Shortly after leaving the airport, the caravan to bring Olivia to a safe house falls under attack. Genesis has hired former South African Special Forces agent Andrew Vogel (Josh Blacker) to command an army to prevent Tanis from handing her evidence over to the attorney general. With the rest of the security detail wiped out from the attack, and a possible inside man helping Vogel, Carter now finds himself solely responsible for getting Olivia to safety—but she doesn’t seem to like him, trust him or want his help.

The Marine 4 is a non-stop adrenaline-packed roller-coaster ride of a film. Unlike the third installment of the franchise, which started off a little slow with a more dramatic storyline, this one kicks into full gear almost immediately. And once the action starts, it doesn’t slow down. There are car chases, gunfire, explosions, a tense, crazy shootout in a police station, and a commando-style hunt through the woods. Despite being vastly outnumbered and outgunned, Carter always seems to find a way, and it’s a lot of fun to see him in action.

This film is a highly-entertaining action flick, but it does require you to not over-think things at times. The filmmakers may have gone a bit overboard trying to fit in every action film trope they could. For example, as Vogel’s men search for Jake and Olivia in the woods, we see Carter taking out the men one at a time commando-style. However, he also seems to have set up many elaborate booby-traps involving tree trunks and swinging spikes. And he somehow did this with just a few hours notice and an injured arm—and knew exactly where these guys would end up during the forthcoming long chase through the woods. While the boobytrap stuff looks really cool, it hardly makes sense and was a bit overkill.

The film’s cast does a great job. While some of the dialogue and line delivery is a bit green at times, the action sequences more than make up for this. The fights feel believable and not overly-choreographed, and when Carter takes out his enemies, you really believe he is an ex-Marine. Melissa Roxburgh gives a fun performance as the annoying, stuck-up young woman who doesn’t want Carter’s help, but also delivers when her character becomes more physical (and likable). Danielle Moinet (WWE Diva Summer Rae) kicks some serious butt in her feature film debut as Rachel Dawes, one of Vogel’s crew. And Josh Blacker makes a great, scary villain out of Andrew Vogel.

The film’s special effects are really well done. While there is a constant spraying of bullets, you see each of the bullet holes appear as cars, walls and people are shot up. This adds more of a realistic nature to the situations, making it feel like the characters are truly in danger, and just narrowly missed getting hit.

The film looks great on this Blu-ray, with a crisp clear picture that captures all of the action. However, one thing that I found a bit distracting at times was the director’s over-use of a series of quick flash cuts to speed up the passage of time—such as when someone is driving down a road or running through a forest. The Blu-ray’s audio track sounds excellent—it surrounds the viewer in all of the chaos of the gunfire and explosions, while also delivering clear dialogue.

The Blu-ray contains a code for a digital copy of the film, plus about 20 minutes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews. These entertaining bonus featurettes take a look at the weapons, actions and characters of this film as well as the The Marine franchise as a whole.

Overall, I really enjoyed this film, and I hope we will see more of Jake Carter’s adventures in the future.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:30:14)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French DTS 5.1, German DTS 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French (Quebec), French, Danish, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Swedish

Digital Copy (Redemption Deadline 4/21/2018):

• Digital HD Copy redeemable via Flixster (UltraViolet), Google Play or Vudu (UltraViolet)

Extras:
The disc contains a trio of narrated featurettes that include behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with cast members Mike “The Miz” Mizanin (“Jake Carter”), Summer Rae (“Rachel Dawes”), Melissa Roxburgh (“Olivia Tanis”) and Josh Blacker (“Andrew Vogel”).

• Firepower (10:12)
  Armourer Rob Fournier talks about the weapons used in film, as well as using blanks and squibs, and making the film look realistic and authentic. There is footage some of the cast weapons training sessions, and interviews with key production assistant Zoe La Liberte, SPFX best boy Kim Mortensen, line producer Donald Munro, stunt coordinator Kimani Ray Smith and SPFX coordinator Darcy Davis.
• The Franchise (5:48)
  A look back at the previous films as well as Jake’s latest mission and new enemies. Includes footage from Mizanin’s fight training, and interviews with fight coordinator Dan Rizzuto, key hairstylist Forest Sala, stunt coordinator Kimani Ray Smith, property master Valentine Pavuls, as well as some archived interviews with the original Marines John Cena (“John Triton”) and Ted Dibiase Jr. (“Joe Linwood”).
• Beauty is Dangerous (4:14)
  The actors discuss the powerful, tough female characters of the film, and what it was like doing their own stunts. Fight coordinator Dan Rizzuto talks about training the actors, and we see footage of The Miz and Summer Rae preparing for their big fight scene. Makeup artist Candice Stafford-Bridge and key hairstylist Forest Sala discuss finding the balance between danger and beauty, and we get a glimpse of the cast getting their scrapes and cuts applied.
• Sneak Peek (11:59)
  Play All or select from trailers for Discover Digial HD, Taken 3, Bad Asses on the Bayou, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Unfinished Business, The November Man and Homeland Season 4.

Final Thoughts:

The Marine 4: Moving Target is a highly-entertaining, non-stop action thrill ride. It’s not necessary to have seen any of the previous installments of this franchise to be able to fully enjoy this fourth film. The storyline, while not largely original, is entertaining and the action sequences look great. The Blu-ray audio and visual presentations are quite good, and the 20-minutes of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews are interesting. The Blu-ray also contains a code for a Digital HD copy of the film, so you can take the action with you wherever you go. If you are looking for 90 minutes of action-packed fun, then this film is certainly worth checking out!