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

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can get it here.