The Marine / Transporter 2 (2-DVD)

THE MARINE: John Cena of the WWE stars in this barrelhouse brawler of a film as John Triton, a marine who gets discharged after he disobeys orders while rescuing prisoners in Iraq. Now he's back home in South Carolina with his wife, Kate (Kelly Carlson), and a lame security job. Meanwhile, a gang of colorfully violent jewel thieves knock over a diamond business and blow a police car 30 feet in the air while making their getaway. John and Kate are driving out in their SUV for a weekend in the mountains and wind up at the same gas station as the robbers. Shots get fired, the fuel tanks explode, and the bad guys hightail it out of there--with Kate as a hostage. Triton must now use his formidable Marine training to track the bad guys via car chase, boat chase, and knife-in-hand swamp-stalking. Despite the rampant violence, this is suitable for the WWE fanbase, as it downplays the blood and death and ups the quotient of sucker punches, throwing guys through walls, and leaping away from fireball explosions in slow motion. Robert Patrick plays the lead bad guy, shrugging off wry in-jokes about his role in TERMINATOR 2 while he shoots witnesses. Abigail Bianca is the evil girl in the gang--she and Kate get to have a fight of their own before it's all over. Fortunately Cena manages to hold his own onscreen amid the amusing dialogue and flying fists, making for a satisfying addition to the ranks of action heroes.

TRANSPORTER 2: A former Special Forces agent, Frank (Jason Statham) now works as a driver for a family in Miami. But when their young son is kidnapped, Frank will stop at nothing to find the criminals who are holding him for ransom and get the boy back. This high-action adventure is directed by Louis Leterrier and written by Luc Besson.

Action | Adventure | Family Crises | Sequel