Jarhead 3: The Siege

There are precious few third movies in movie franchises that are any good, and this in no way breaks that pattern. The assorted characters are the types you've seen in countless war movies, from the corrupt pencil-pushing bureaucrat, to the gung-ho soldier eager to prove his mettle. While there's enough self awareness to avoid the good guy/bad guy dichotomy that so dominated most 20th century war movies, even the cynicism regarding American foreign policy has become stock as anything else. Waiting for anything mold-breaking is for the audience like the Marine security guards fighting the terrorists in this movie waiting for Dennis Haysbert's character to arrive to provide back-up and rescue. However, at least in the latter, the waiting isn't completely futile.

The battle scenes have some exciting moments to almost take one's mind off of how run-of-the-mill this movie is from start to finish. And, like previous Jarhead movies, there's an attempt to convey a realistic sense of life in the Marines, particularly with the day to day. Even so, most of that is forgotten by the time we reach the inevitable nonstop fighting, shooting, and kabooming in the movie's third act. The cacophony in these final battle scenes can almost make the viewer forget the terrible American accent mumbled by the British actor in Jarhead 3: The Siege, but not quite.