Netflix And Chill: Mile 22 (2018)

The opening of Mile 22 is a pretty good one. A black ops team (I guess that is the best term to use) bust their way into a house full of potential terrorists, take control of the situation, and then lose control when an extra baddie starts shooting from his hiding place. That means every terrorist needs to be shot, just before the house explodes. The ending is also pretty good. Not completely unexpected, but it's nice to see just how far they take things. I won't detail it here because I try to avoid spoilers. Suffice to say, it wasn't as simplistic and jingoistic as I expected. Unfortunately, the many scenes in between the beginning and the end aren't as good.

Mark Wahlberg plays James Silva, the leader of the team (because of course he is). Their latest mission is to get some dangerous explosive powder off the streets. It's so powerful that Wahlberg compares it to Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. They end up striking a deal with one person who can help them, a police officer named Li Noor (Iko Uwais). Li just wants his transportation out of the country guaranteed. A lot of people want to stop that from happening, turning an urban area into a small war zone in the process.

Director Peter Berg seems to have found his comfort zone in the last five years or so, helming action thrillers that allow Wahlberg to continue his run of tough guy hero roles. It seems to be working for him, for both of them, and people who have enjoyed any of their films together will continue to enjoy their work. It's just a shame that Berg cannot work as well with all of his cast members, but I'll get back to that shortly.

The script, by Lea Carpenter, does enough to keep the information flowing without interrupting the flow of action sequences. At a near-perfect runtime of about 94 minutes, the pacing is excellent, and I can't imagine anyone after a fix of gunfights, martial arts, and military hardware, being too disappointed by this.

Fans of Uwais might be disappointed though, especially when they realise that Berg directs hand to hand combat sequences as if he'd been given advice from Paul W. S. Anderson. Uwais does well in his role, and he gets to show off his fighting prowess in one or two main set-pieces. It's just very unfortunate that his physical work is undermined by the horrible camerawork and editing. Although not perfect, the gunfights are filmed better, which helps the performances from Wahlberg, Lauren Cohan, Ronda Rousey, and Sam Medina, and the other supporting players. Cohan fares particularly well, convincing as a tough team member who can hold her own alongside Wahlberg. You also get a supporting role for John Malkovich. He's almost completely wasted, but I always like seeing Malkovich in a movie.

Mile 22 may be a bit of a mess, but at least it's an entertaining one. It would have been much better with someone other than Wahlberg in the lead role, which is something I can say about many of his movies, but all of the other people involved help to make up for that. As do those scenes that bookend the bulk of the main plot.

6/10

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The Expendables 3 (2014)

Well, here we are again. I enjoyed The Expendables, as did many other people. The Expendables 2, on the other hand, fell a bit flat. It was too busy being smug and self-referential to work as well as the first movie. Thankfully, this third outing is a bit of a return to form.

The plot this time sees Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) recruiting some newcomers to help him track down a very bad man (Mel Gibson) who was once one the same team as Barney. But will the newcomers be up to the task? Or will Barney still need some help from his regular colleagues (Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, and Jet Li)?

That's all you need to know. The essence of the movie has already been made clear from the advertising campaing. If you haven't seen it then let me surmise it for you just now: STALLONE, STATHAM, LUNDGREN, CREWS, COUTURE, LI, SCHWARZENEGGER, BANDERAS, SNIPES, FORD, ROUSEY, ORTIZ, LUTZ, POWELL, GIBSON. If this is successful enough to lead to a fourth movie then they're going to need a much bigger poster, because it's all about mixing the action beats with more star power than you'd usually glean from a dozen movies of this ilk. Everyone does a good enough job, all clearly having fun, and that fun is infectious. Gibson is a bit underused, although he does his best with the role, but these movies always struggle to give everyone enough screentime (Harrison Ford only gets a few minutes, and Jet Li pops up for what amounts to a fleeting cameo).

Before opening in cinemas nationwide, The Expendables 3 was already getting a lot of attention for two main reasons. One, the content was being toned down to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Two, a torrent of DVD quality leaked online a few weeks before the big release date. For the first part, I have to say that I didn't notice this being a lighter affair. There may be less actual bloodshed, but the fights and stunts are all still top-notch stuff. As for that torrent, the conspiracy theorist in me wonders whether or not someone had the bright idea of doing that to head off any potential disappointment at the box office. I recommend seeing the movie in the cinema, with all of the action accompanied by some major, seat-rumbling, surround sound, and I hope it actually does well enough to satisfy all those involved.

Patrick Hughes may be the director this time, with Stallone on screenwriting duties once again (this time accompanied by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt), but this is a film, and indeed a franchise, that seems designed to work no matter who is behind the scenes. It's all down to the stars, it's down to the set-pieces, and it's down to the many fantastic stunt performers who help create such memorable moments.

Highlights include an opening sequence that celebrates Wesley Snipes joining the crew, and actually features a winking gag that works well, a sequence in which Stallone is joined by Kelsey Grammer as he looks to recruit his new team, Banderas being a non-stop motormouth, and pretty much any scene starring the lovely Ronda Rousey.

It's cheesy, it's dripping with machismo, it's completely over the top. In short, it's in line with the series, and delivers exactly what fans will be hoping for.

7/10

http://www.amazon.com/The-Expendables-3-Sylvester-Stallone/dp/B00HLSW674/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1408020670&sr=8-7&keywords=expendables+3