The Marine 6: Close Quarters (2018)

Directed by: James Nunn | minutes | action, drama | Actors: Mike ‘The Miz’ Mizanin, Shawn Michaels, Rebecca Quin, Louisa Connolly-Burnham, Terence Maynard, Tim Woodward, Martyn Ford, Anna Demetriou, Michael Higgs, Daniel Adegboyega, Alec Newman, Hester Ruoff, Ellie Goffe, David William Bryan Lee Charles, Tom Cheshire, Franco Flammia, Serhat Metin, Christopher Mulvin, George Russo, Dan Styles

The series of ‘The Marine’ films, the first of which dates back to 2006, has been released by WWE Studios, the film arm of the American ‘Professional Wrestling’ corporation WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.). These films cast well-known WWE wrestlers and ‘The Marine 6’ is no exception. Directed by James Nunn, who also directed ‘The Marine 5: Battleground’, this installment stars Mike ‘The Miz’ Mizanin and Shawn Michaels, both greats in the American wrestling world. They are joined in this part by Irish-born professional wrestler Rebecca Quin who is known in the ring as Becky Lynch.

In this part, Sarah Dillon (Louisa Connolly-Burnham) is kidnapped by a criminal gang led by Maddy Hayes (Rebecca Quin) in order to put pressure on Sarah’s father, Patrick Dillon. He is part of a jury that must judge Horace Hayes, the father of Maddy Hayes. Horace, who is also the leader of a criminal organization, is on trial for the murder of several police officers. Maddy orders Patrick to sabotage the jury in exchange for his daughter’s life. While awaiting trial, Maddy retreats with her gang to an abandoned apartment complex where she holds Sarah captive. However, the apartment complex is not completely deserted.

In the same building, a PTSD-stricken war veteran, Tommy Walker (Tim Woodward), squats a room he won’t leave and defends it tooth and nail. An acquaintance and ex-soldier, Luke Trapper (Shawn Michaels), who sympathizes with him and regularly goes there to bring him food and drink, this time brings a friend, the star of the film, Jake Carter (Mike Mizanin). After delivering the items to Tommy, they hear strange noises. When they investigate, they come into contact with Maddy’s armed gang. In an attempt to rescue Sarah from the clutches of these tattooed muscles, a cat-and-mouse game ensues with the abandoned apartment complex as the battleground.

The plot is very thin and only acts as a lame excuse to justify muscle, tough talk, broken bones and cracked egos. Horace Hayes is only present as a news story and Patrick, Sarah’s father, is not on screen for more than 1 minute while trying to appear panicky. Jake Carter and Luke Trapper are predictable one-dimensional action heroes who occasionally show off their wrestling prowess as they engage in physical confrontations. In the chaos of flying fists and screeching bullets, redhead Maddy Hayes stands out for her cool bad-ass attitude. She is beautiful, well built and a pleasure to watch, especially since sadism and physical attractiveness are fused in her character. You can’t talk about acting because this isn’t a movie where acting is the goal. Sarah is scared, Jake is tough, Luke is fearless, and Maddy is bad. There is nothing more than shooting, fighting and cursing.

‘The Marine 6’ is a low-budget action movie that’s good to play in the background while you’re working through overdue apps or preparing dinner. Perhaps these films will do well on the wrestling circuit where die-hard fans collect them as a form of idolization. Or maybe not. At least the world isn’t getting any better.