By JASON GUYER
iRate
CIA Operative James Silva (Mark Wahlberg) tugs at a rubber band around his wrist and lets it go.
(Snap)
(Snap, Snap)
On paper the action described by the words above sound like they should create tension. In “Mile 22,” that may have been the intention but in practice, tension is exactly what “Mile 22” lacks. Even with the neurotic snapping of the band by Wahlberg’s character.
No, in Peter Berg’s “Mile 22” action is what you see this film for and action is what you get.
Just do not expect much more than that from “Mile 22.”
“Mile 22” follows the journey of CIA operative James Silva ( Mark Wahlberg). Silva leads a small paramilitary team on an urgent and dangerous mission. The team must transport a foreign intelligence agent from an American embassy in Southeast Asia to an airfield for extraction. The distance to extraction, 22 miles. Silva and his team find themselves up against the clock as military, police and street gangs close in to reclaim the agent.
Wahlberg brings little to the table in “Mile 22” and hais portrayal of James Silva is uneven at its best. One would assume that the aforementioned neurotic tic that his character has was to add depth to his character. Unfortunately for “Mile 22,” that is not what this character trait has accomplished. Instead it shows the holes in Mark Wahlberg’s acting. For “Mile 22” is clearly intended to be the star vehicle for Wahlberg, the driving force behind any presumed success of the film.
If “Mile 22” had dumbed down the character of James Silva and not tried to add any character depth, I think Wahlberg would have been fine in “Mile 22.” Wahlberg is at his best when the roles he plays have a simpler, more defined archetype for the character. Basically, Wahlberg and “Mile 22” try too hard. Sadly, it is unnecessary and takes away from the potential of the film.
To be honest, the film would have been better without Wahlberg in it at all and that can happen when an actor is chosen as the “star vehicle” and not chosen to play the role. Lauren Cohan steals the show as Alice Kerr, or would have, if she were not continuously overshadowed by Wahlberg’s Silva.
The two characters are locked in this weird, character tug of war: whose character and whose character story is better than the other’s? Silva’s neurotic-action junkie CIA sycophant to Kerr’s struggling-mother-trying-to-defend-her-country CIA operative. Between the two, Cohan’s Kerr is the better story. Cohan also has the added advantage of coming off her character, Maggie Greene, from the television show “The Walking Dead.” Maggie Greene is particularly strong female character and so is Alice Kerr. The differences may not be grand, but they work well and the similarities show rather vividly.
In middle of “Mile 22” there is a scene where Cohan’s Kerr is fighting for her life and she has that “you will not beat me” and “I will win” moment many action characters have and, in that moment, in her eyes you see the same fight you see from Cohan as you saw in Maggie Greene. In that moment you realize that it works, and that Cohan is the best character and the best lead character in “Mile 22.”
The other showstopper in “Mile 22” is Iko Uwais. Uwais plays the agent turned asset that Silva’s team needs to save. Uwais seemingly handles all the action in “Mile 22” and handles it brilliantly. Uwais is clearly underutilized and he is so good that it becomes a noticeable hole in the film.
The patient room scene where two guys come to do the recently turned agent harm is one of the best close quarter action scenes I have scene.
The worst character in “Mile 22” is Ronda Rousey’s Sam Snow. If the other members of Silva’s team are the head of the nail in this finely tuned team, Rousey’s Snow is the hammer. Rousey needs some help in the acting department and that can be seen in her performances as a wrestler in the WWE. Eventually one should help the other, one would think.
Rousey’s Snow is the character in “Mile 22” that doesn’t get killed off quite soon enough, even though the character is one of the first to get killed off. Snow is a character meant to be spectacle but in the end is just a character to be forgotten.
For “Mile 22” that same sentiment is also very true. “Mile 22” sets out to be a film that makes you think, keeps you on edge, brings tension filled action to new heights. None of these marks are hit and all your left with is a marginal to decent action movie.
Already a sequel is in the works, Umair Aleem, the writer of the hit television show “Blacklist,” has been tapped to pen the sequel of “Mile 22.” Expectations will be low but hopefully the sequel will go that extra mile.
Maybe, mile 23.
(Oh, snap)
IRATE SCORE: 2/5
Jason Guyer is an avid moviegoer and works in the graphics department at the Eagle Times. For questions or comments he can be emailed at [email protected]
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