Mile 22 (Review)
Mile 22 is the Equivalent of an Action Movie Mad Libs.
If you’re looking for another generic action movie to watch this summer, boy have I got a movie for you!
Mile 22 plays like every other covert action movie you’ve probably seen in recent memory. It’s filled with tough guy characters working for an imaginary organization doing the dirty deeds that America doesn’t want to be associated with (which have got to be pretty bad considering all the terrible things we do on the books). It’s about as formulaic as they come, but with one big difference. The characters are all completely unlikeable.
At the forefront of Mile 22 is Mark Wahlberg, who plays Jimmy Silva. A guy who is supposedly a genius and has plenty of anger issues. The end result though is just a character who’s an asshole and not even in a fun way. He leads a team of “similar minded” individuals who take the jobs when the diplomacy and military options fail (what’s left after a ground invasion?). As is typical with action films like this, Jimmy and his team find themselves in over their heads when they take in a police officer (Iko Uwais) who has information about a supposed eminent attack. Their job is to transport him to a plane to get him safely to America. Unfortunately, a lot of dangerous people don’t want that to happen.
Peter Berg is known for making pretty adequate movies. I especially enjoyed one of his previous projects with Wahlberg, Lone Survivor. This time around though there’s not a lot of meat to the story the two tell this time around. Jimmy Silva is meant to be a deep and complex character, supposedly gifted but burdened with a brain that works too quickly. The end result is just a fast-talking guy with an attitude, little to no patience, and a complete lack of empathy. Jimmy feels more suited to being a bad guy, but maybe that’s the point of the character. You see, Jimmy doesn’t do nice things, but that’s alright with him because he suffers from the mentality that the world NEEDS men like him to do terrible things. To me though it just sounds like he’s trying to justify the fact that he’s really not useful for anything but dangerous covert op jobs, and after this movie, I wouldn’t even say he’s that great at that.
Jimmy seems to be walking around like he owns the embassy he’s working in bossing around everyone and everything that he can. Personally, I think that his character isn’t worth how good he possibly could be and the most astounding thing about him is that his team hasn’t put a bullet in his back yet. He’s just such a weakly written character. The idea is there, but the execution leaves much to be desired. Why is this important though? Because when the bullets start flying, there’s no reason to want Jimmy to succeed. His team on the other hand (consisting of Ronda Rousey, Lauren Cohan, and Carlo Alban) are at least tolerable, but it’s clear that most of them are cut from the same obnoxious cloth Jimmy is. In essence, Jimmy is a dog that barks constantly and we all know that barking dogs don’t have as much bite as the strong silent ones.
Mile 22 is an all too familiar film that doesn’t really pay attention to anything except for the action sequences. In fact, the first act of the film is a little confusing because it’s unclear what Iko Uwais’ character is. They repeatedly make references to him being Special Forces but call him a cop throughout it. Of course, this is just one of many loopholes in Mile 22. It’s unclear why this secret organization needs to be involved in this whole debacle when it’s clear that Uwais has credible information about terror attacks planned across the country. Then again, most of the plot of Mile 22 only serves to push characters forward. The whole story manhandles elements into place with little regard to common sense or logic. Then again, I’m no fictional covert operative, so what do I know?
Of course, a plot is never really the strong point when it comes to movies like Mile 22. They’re vehicles for fight scenes, gun battles, explosions, and quippy one-liners. Most of which Mile 22 has, which makes it an acceptable entry to the action genre, but not one that really has much going for it (that is if I don’t want to spoil it for you). I will say that the highlight of the film is Iko Uwais who is easily one of the most impressive martial artists working in Hollywood today. He manages to steal the show when he gets a chance to throw kicks and punches at the unfortunate goons who are sent after him. So much so that it’s hard not to wonder why he even needs Mark Wahlberg to escort him. This is one instance in which a white hero isn’t needed at all. However, there’s more to this film than meets the eye.
Mile 22 marks the death rattle of the 2018 summer season. It limps into theaters after being pushed back two weeks from its initial release date (probably because it didn’t want to compete with The Meg or Christopher Robin). It’s not awful, but it’s more of the same. The kind of movie where if you’ve seen one of them you’ve seen them all. I was intrigued by how far they took the cyber capabilities of the support team aiding Jimmy Silva, but that’s not enough to make Mile 22 a truly great movie. The one redeeming aspect of it is something that I can’t freely share in a review without ruining it. Then again, that aspect will still be there when it comes out on Bluray or starts streaming online. Honestly, it’s nothing to write home about and if it’s not worth that, then it’s definitely not worth the price of admission.
