I have long been a fan of Mark Wahlberg. I think it may have been The Departed when I first realized that Wahlberg was the real deal. I also liked him that same year in Four Brothers based in my home town, Detroit. Wahlberg finds a nice balance between serious roles like The Shooter and comedies like Ted or Daddy's Home. I have been anticipating the release of his latest serious film, Mile 22, which I have to admit was a bit disappointing.
James Silva (Wahlberg) leads a team of elite assassins. When diplomacy fails and military force is not an option, his team gets the nod. The team requires clock-like precision, directed remotely by Overwatch under the scrutiny of Bishop (John Malkovich) whose code name is "Mother." His team includes Alice Kerr (Lauren Cohen), Sam Snow (Ronda Rousey) and William Douglas III (Carlo Alban). The team is pressed into action to locate missing caesium-137 in a foreign country. An asset who claims to have information on the location of the caesium will only provide the information if he is exfiltrated to the United States.
The asset, Li Noor (Iko Uwais), has delivered a hard drive with information on the locations of the missing caesium. The hard drive has a countdown timer that will delete the information once the timer runs out. Facing the destruction of the data, the team must transport Noor to an airfield 22 miles away before time runs out. The team must drive the treacherous stretch of urban road while facing threats from assassins on motorcycle, car and stationed along the road. With the assistance of advanced technology, the team maneuvers toward the exfiltration point while being decimated by combatants. All with the promise of finding the missing caesium, but not guarantees.
Mile 22 is Lea Carpenter's debut screenplay. It is based on a story concept she developed with Graham Roland, who is one of the writers on the new Jack Ryan television series. I truly hope that series has better writing. Mile 22 is a fairly linear story with a somewhat predictable twist at the end. It is like your typical "race the clock" type film. The characters are okay, but I wasn't necessarily loving any of them. The acting was okay, but not superb. If anything, the strength of this film was in Uwais' martial arts segments. There were some interesting fight scenes in this film, but not enough to carry the film. Luckily, Wahlberg helped out with his rapid-fire dialogue. The dialogue helped keep this in the "recommended" category.
I'm not a Ronda Rousey fan (I don't watch MMA), but she was okay in a supporting role. The two leads are two of my favorite actors. I mentioned my affinity for Wahlberg, but I have also been a long-term fan of Cohen who has one of the most endearing roles as Maggie on The Walking Dead. Those two increased my enjoyment of the film. Malkovich was strong in a small supporting role, with his typical awkward delivery. I am unfamiliar with Uwais but can say that his martial arts performance was among the positive attributes in this film. He was well cast in his role.
Mile 22 is fairly short at one hour, thirty-five minutes. The film has strong pacing, moving the action along rapidly. The film features plenty of violence and gore. While the film avoids issues like nudity, adult themes or drug use, it is packed with strong language and killing. It is essentially a war film. Maybe asymmetrical, but war in any sense. The film features tense action with bloody shooting, bombing and hand-to-hand combat. The intimate combat is among the bloodiest of the battles with scenes that include stabbing someone in the face with glass or impaling someone with a piece of metal. It may not be a splatter-fest, but there is an abundance of gore. I would recommend teens or above.
Mile 22 didn't have a great deal of depth. It was a bit hackneyed. It was predictable. But overall, I came away with a mild sense of enjoyment. I liked the performances, I enjoyed the fight scenes and the action was well choreographed. What the film lacked in substance it made up for in action, pacing and rapid-fire dialogue from Mark Wahlberg who has mastered that type of delivery. With the violence and dialogue, I would be tempted to draw a comparison with The Departed, but the comparison would end there. The Departed is a far superior film on every level. 6/10.
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