Starring
Jai Courtney, Nat Wolff, Finn Wittrock, Beau Knapp, Arturo Castro,
Leighton Castro. Directed by Henry-Alex Rubin. (99 min)
ON
BLU-RAY FROM LIONSGATE
Review
by Tiger the Terrible😾
Semper
Fi tries to be many things at once, but doesn’t really succeed
at any of them.
It’s
the story of five close-knit buddies who also serve in the Marine
reserves. They have “cool” nicknames and spend most of their
off-time together, bowling, bonding and drinking...lots of drinking.
The de-facto leader is Cal (Jai Courtney), a cop whose younger
brother, Oyster (Nat Wolff), is one felony away from going to prison,
which is exactly what happens when he accidentally kills a man in a
bar fight. Even though it was in self-defense, Oyster is sentenced to
25 years.
Meanwhile,
the others are deployed to Iraq, where they – and the viewer –
briefly experience the visceral horrors of war. Jaeger loses a limb
and Cal shoots an unarmed man during a heated stand-off. Shortly
afterwards, they all return to civilian life. Cal tries to make
amends with Oyster, who’s still in prison and won’t forgive his
older brother for turning him in. Cal suspects Oyster is being abused
in prison and will die there if he doesn’t do something. After
filing an appeal fails, Cal decides to try and break Oyster out. When
his honor-bound friends volunteer to help, he hatches a plan that
will utilize their military training as well as his police
experience.
"Oh, yeah? Well, double-dumbass on you!" |
So
despite a decent cast, Semper Fi lacks
the characters necessary for a compelling depiction of honor, loyalty
and brotherhood. Elsewhere,
it tries to be a
family drama, war film and action
movie, but is too erratically
paced and episodic for any
of these elements to be fully
engaging, exacerbated by a major
character (Oyster) who
displays zero redeeming qualities.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
FEATURETTES
- “Loyalty and Brotherhood: Making Semper Fi”
(interviews with the director and main cast); “A Battle of Honor”
AUDIO
COMMENTARY – By writer/director Henry-Alex Rubin
DELETED
SCENES
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