Mile 22

This film is a real disappointment, as I’ve liked the previous work of all involved.  Unfortunately, Mile 22 is a mess in terms of plot and characterisation, and most unforgivably, even the action itself is muddled, poorly shot, and unengaging.

Premise:  A covert US black ops team, led by the volatile James Silva (Mark Wahlberg), is tasked with transporting an intelligence source (Iko Uwais) out of a hostile country in Southeast Asia. But during the 22 mile journey from the US embassy to the airstrip, the team will have to deal with corrupt local military, as well as interference from the Russia military intelligence.

Review:

You know how some action films get really bad reviews from the critics, but they can actually be a guilty pleasure in a big, dumb and fun way?  And you know how some film series like The Expendables, Resident Evil, Fast & Furious, Underworld and the like may never get critical acclaim, but they are really enjoyable if you take them for what they are?  Well, I had hoped that Mile 22 would also fall into this category – but I’m sad to say, that is not the case.

Mile 22 is a disappointing mess, and after a fairly decent opening action set-piece (the clichéd “something went wrong on the last mission, and now the team have emotional baggage to deal with”), it’s all downhill from there.  I’m generally a fan of Mark Wahlberg (I in particular loved some of his early films, like The Big Hit and Three Kings, as well as more recent films like Shooter and Pain & Gain), and I’ve also really enjoyed some of director Peter Berg’s films (like Very Bad Things and The Kingdom), so while I wasn’t expecting a masterpiece, I did hope that Mile 22 would be a gripping action thriller.  When I heard that Iko Uwais was also involved, I hoped for some great action sequences (given that The Raid and The Raid 2 were two of the most inventive action films of the last decade).

“…the action scenes are so poorly executed…”

Unfortunately, Mile 22 fails to deliver on any level.  I could forgive the fact that the characters are clichéd and two-dimensional and, for the most part, pretty unlikable.  I could forgive that the plot doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and is riddled with plot holes – after all, the storyline is just an excuse to set up the 22-mile gauntlet which the heroes have to run.  But what I can’t forgive, in an action-focused thriller, is that the action scenes are so poorly executed.  Peter Berg has previously directed some great action sequences – the final act of The Kingdom is a great example of a well-paced action sequence which ratchets ups the tension to almost unbearable levels in the final apartment block shootout.  But in Mile 22, there is no sense of drama, excitement or suspense in any of the shootouts, which involve monotonous scenes of the good guys shooting faceless assassins in blacked-out motorcycle helmets.

Even worse are the fight scenes – which is a crime given what Iko Uwais is capable of doing on camera.  For some inexplicable reason, Peter Berg takes the decision to hack up all of the fight scenes with so many cuts that it’s actually difficult to make out what’s going on.  Gareth Evans knew how to direct great fight scenes in The Raid and The Raid 2 by filming the fights in long uncut shots that showed off Iko Uwais’ amazing fight choreography.  American directors like Chad Stahelski and David Leitch have applied the same principle in the stunning fight scenes in Atomic Blonde and the John Wick films.  But unfortunately, Peter Berg’s cutting of the fight scenes in Mile 22 leaves them a disjointed and jarring mess, which makes no sense given that cutting up fight scenes is what you do to disguise when your actor can’t perform the fight choreography for real.

“…just a stream of repetitive shootouts & disjointed fight scenes…”

The rest of the movie is pretty bad – Mark Wahlberg’s character is abrasive with no redeeming qualities, and we’re told that he’s gifted with extreme intelligence but we see no evidence of this at any point in the film other than his general hyperactivity.  While it’s nice to see Lauren Cohen get a larger film role, she’s just a walking cliché of the intelligence operative who’s had to sacrifice her family life for the mission, and doesn’t have much of a character beyond that.  And I quite like Ronda Rousey personally, but her acting isn’t the most polished, and for a sports-star-turned-action-star, she actually doesn’t get the chance to do much action in Mile 22 either.  Oh, and John Malkovich is also in the film sporting a ridiculous wig, playing the thankless voice-on-the-end-of-the-comms role.  In The Kingdom, Peter Berg fleshed out the team members and generated real camaraderie among the military unit, which then meant you were emotionally invested when the excrement hit the fan – but here there is no character development, no chemistry between the cast, and so no emotional investment in any of the action.

The plot itself makes little sense, the climax of the film is sudden and thoroughly underwhelming, and the sequel-baiting ambiguous ending is just annoying.  But I could have overlooked all of that if the action had been engaging – but instead it’s just a stream of repetitive shootouts and disjointed fight scenes.  If you want to see a good Peter Berg action thriller, save your money and your time and re-watch The Kingdom instead.