Browse Tag: marines

RECAP: Jarhead

Jarhead (2005): Sam Mendes

I’m trying something new here at The Exploder: reviewing an inaction action movie. Jarhead tells the story of Anthony Swofford, eventual private, in the US Marin Corps during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

It’s a long story for a short war, as it kicks off at Camp Pendleton in 1989, two years before the fight against Saddam “Insane,” as one character refers to him.

Strange thing is, Jarhead is perhaps the only war movie in which the main character doesn’t fire a shot.

ONE SENTENCE PLOT SUMMARY: A young Marine sniper survives the Gulf War without sniping anyone.  Continue Reading

RECAP: The Rock

The Rock (1996): Michael Bay

The first of a trio of Nicolas Cage action films, The Rock fell second in a string of four movies that represent the apex of Cage’s career.

Following his Oscar win for Leaving Las Vegas, Cage starred in The Rock, Con Air, and Face Off. That, folks, is called a winning streak.

Sean Connery, long-haired and cagey, appeared in his final great movie. That was 20 years ago, Sean. We need you back!

ONE SENTENCE PLOT SUMMARY: A green G-Man and a gray Brit fight through Alcatraz to stop a Silver Starred general from killing San Franciscans with chemical weapons.  Continue Reading

RECAP: DOOM

Doom (2005): Andrzej Bartkowiak

Hey, remember the cool shooter for PCs from the 1990s? They made it into a movie. Isn’t that cool? Isn’t it? Well they did. It was a dope game, remember?

Video games have a poor track record when turned into movies, an interesting conundrum considering that video games are constantly trying to become more like playable movies. Universal gives the old college try in reproducing one of the progenitors of first-person shooters (FPS).

Union Aerospace Corporation’s (UAC) Mars research base is under a Level 5 breach, and six scientists are under lockdown. The only men for the job are the brave Marines of the Rapid Response Tactical Squad (RRTS), led by The Rock.

ONE SENTENCE PLOT SUMMARY: Monsters, Mars, and Marines–the trifecta–collide in a shoot-em-up…of doom! Continue Reading