Mile 22 (2.5 out of 5 stars).
Mile 22 is an adrenaline rush action thriller that leaves you feeling a little exhausted from its shaky cam, rushed plot, and poor dialogue. Peter Berg direction is on steroids with his quick fast editing cuts in every action scene that makes Jason Bourne movies or Michael Bay's action seem more still. Which is not a good thing for Mile 22. Peter Berg does build some intensity that keeps your heart pumping in such a short run time with the film. He did great in Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon, and Patriots Day. Mile 22 fails to be an exciting great movie.
The plot was convoluted. It follows James Silva (Mark Wahlberg) who is a paramilitary operative in an organization called Overwatch. When his team invades what they think is a Russian KGB hideout house and the mission goes sideways. A year or so later, James and his team are assigned to escort Li Noor (Iko Uwais) 22 miles to the airport for extraction. Cause Li Noor has valuable intel that can be life threatening to the nation. While on their transport they get invaded by assassins, and another paramilitary group that will stop at nothing to kill Li Noor.
I thought the plot and direction of the movie was a little lost on what it was trying to be. Story wise it kind of sucked when there was barely much of a story. You have a fast talking James Silva, who can explode with his mania personality at any given moment. He is hard with his team which they can barely keep up. Especially, Alice (Lauren Cohan) who is struggling with a divorce and custody battle. But James informs her that she is distracted and will lose sight of their job. Then, there is a sub plot of a Russian terrorist that are on a plane with an agenda as they watch surveillance of this escort on Li Noor. And than Li Noor, who has info of the terrorist having a biohazard material that is an attack waiting to happen. The film has a twist that gives you the chills and a cliffhanger ending that leaves for a sequel.
The direction sucked with this movie. The cinematography work was consist of shaky camera movement and fast editing. The fight scene with Iko Uwais attacking others was confusing. The shootouts were loud, and a bang but it gets very repetitive throughout. James and his team are on a long 22 mile journey that is consist of cars blowing up, shoot outs, running into a building with more shoot outs and close combat fighting. And repeat. I like most Peter Berg films. Yes, he does well building up the intensity with the movie. But this one does get a little boring with its narration when it cuts between action scenes to James Silva being interviewed on what went wrong with their mission. Or when it cuts to surveillance videos of the action from the drone or street cameras. It can be annoying.
Mark Wahlberg was great though as the fast talking and maniac character. John Malkovich was okay too with sitting behind the monitors watching the action unfold. Lauren Cohan was okay as well with hands on action. Iko Uwais is like the next Jet Li or Jackie Chan when it comes to fighting. And Ronda Rousey barely had much to do with some brief action scenes.
Overall, Mile 22 is a bad film. Mark Wahlberg was good and yes the film could be a start of a franchise. Peter Berg's fast editing direction that gets lost with its action scenes between quick camera movements to surveillance cameras can be tedious after awhile. The poor plotting that needs to have a twist to make it better just feels like the film did not have a story at all. I was a little left disappointed and the film is forgettable.
