Susan Granger’s review of “Mile 22” (STX Films)
This action-packed disappointment marks the fourth collaboration between rapper-turned-actor Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg, so perhaps they should re-evaluate their macho ‘bromance’.
Wahlberg plays brooding James “Jimmy” Silva, a grim, angry, senior CIA officer who is part of an ultra-elite, high-tech paramilitary unit that includes Alice Kerr (Lauren Cohan), Sam Snow (Ronda Rousey) and William “Dougie” Douglas III (Carlo Alban). Their derring-do is computer-monitored from a remote control center by James Bishop (John Malkovich), known by the code-name “Mother.”
The opening sequence shows the ‘Overwatch’ team bursting into an innocuous suburban East Coast home that’s really a Russian safe house. It’s a botched raid but it demonstrates their penchant for lethal, excessively bloody violence.
Skip ahead to the theft of radioactive Cesium 139 and the mysterious appearance of Li Noor (Indonesian martial artist/actor Iko Uwais), a police officer who tells officials at the American Embassy in (fictional) Indocarr that he knows where to find the stolen shipment of “fear powder.”
Noor has the information on a locked disc which will decompose in eight hours unless Jimmy and his secret-ops commandos safely transport him through a 22-mile obstacle course to an airfield for extraction from Southeast Asia and asylum in the United States. That’s easier said than done since lots of local thugs are relentlessly determined to stop them.
Working from first-time screenwriter Kea Carpenter’s monologue-heavy adaptation of a pulpy story she co-wrote with Graham Roland, Peter Berg substitutes quirks (like Jimmy snapping a rubber band against his wrist) for character development, chooses quick-cuts over compelling action and favors chaos over coherence.
FYI: Previous Walberg/Berg collaborations include “Lone Survivor,” “Deepwater Horizon” and “Patriot’s Day” which were based on true events. They obviously counted on this film to ignite a future franchise.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Mile 22” is a talky, treacherous 2. It’s hollow gung-ho!
