Jarhead 3: The Siege (2016) – Review

Where to watch Jarhead 3: The Siege

3 Stars

Of all the franchise to have sprung from seemingly one-off movies the Jarhead series has to be the most unlikely. Universal has plumaged the depths of their catalogues to produce sequels to Scorpion King, Death Race, and Dragonheart. Now, comes Jarhead 3: The Siege, an extremely entertaining stand-alone film that uses the moniker strictly for monetary value. I was a bit surprised just how humorous and deft this small B-movie proved to be. A major improvement over the last sequel, Jarhead 3 sets it’s self up as very worthy of another follow-up.

Corporal Albright (Charlie Weber) is sent to duty at the American embassy in an undisclosed fictional middle eastern city. His gung-ho attitude leads to friction with Gunnery Sergeant Raines (Scott Adkins). The laid-back disposition of the base doesn’t sit well with Albright, especially after noticing a suspicious camera crew outside the gates.

After doing some research, Albright discovers the embassy might be under surveillance. Meanwhile, a training exercise goes awry and Raines puts in a transfer request for Albright’s removal. The tension inside the walls is matched by the mounting situation outside the embassy. A terrorist group has begun a hostile siege on the outpost, civilian personal, and marines.

Caught up in the action is a gluten sensitive documentarian (Dante Basco), a native who only speaks in American hip-hop culture references, and a female who has a connection with Albright. To the aid, is Major Lincoln (Dennis Haybert), and his team of special forces commandos.

I’ve seen a lot of these types of modern warfare b-movies and Jarhead 3 stands head and shoulders above its peers. The action is compellingly photographed and crisply edited, while the script’s underlying humor makes the character’s likable. Gunnery Raines has a nice moment where he states his views on Marine life. It’s nice to Dante Basco back on the screen. He’s such a natural performer that you wish studio’s would get the guy to sidekick in more movies.

Director: William Kaufman
Stars: Charlie Weber, Scott Adkins, Dennis Haysbert

Comments

  1. Excellent military action movie. The beginning was a bit slow, but the last half was basically a non-stop action sequence. Fairly realistic, high budget, solid acting, suspenseful. Much better than expected.

  2. Thank you for a non political assessment of this movie. It was very good agree 2 not so good haven’t seen original as don’t want to see pot head Marines!

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