An elite American intelligence officer, aided by a top-secret tactical command unit, tries to smuggle a mysterious police officer with sensitive information out of the country.
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Iko Uwais, Lauren Cohen, John Malkovich, Ronda Rousey.
There is a huge amount of "competence porn" type of movies and series - usually action or thrillers showing smart and tough people excelling at stuff that most of us can't. Those people usually work in secret organizations or units and deal with national security, acts of war etc.
One would think that it takes something special to stand out in such a crowded field, and one would be right. Peter Berg, the director of "Mile 22", is not, however, afraid to try.
He has succeeded in giving us something a bit different. The good news, the result is shorter than usual in the genre, only 94 minutes - thank heavens for some movies actually being satisfied with lasting less than two hours).
The bad news: being shorter and different have come at the expense of viewer-friendliness.
"Mile 22" is all action and almost nothing else. This is not a problem in itself but I have a troubke with the fact that most of the time, I could not really even quite understand what was happening on the screen.
It's this specific hectic style of producing and editing action scenes that can look cool when done right, but oftentimes just confuses and tires the viewer.
This trend is not new, it's been around since 2002's "The Bourne Identity" but this rarely gives great results. And "Mile 22" has achieved a new low.
Berg has taken this visual whirlwind approach to the max, making both action- and all other scenes difficult to follow. Most of the camerawork is from angles which don't give a satisfying overview of the place and people in it, and it gets worse when bloodletting starts.
The physical discomfort is also accentuated by sudden and creepy sounds, a trick usually more associated with horror movies.
Yes, the result feels original - but also hectic, and a bit mind-numbing. It's like a badly put together video-game with a sorely lacking camera system.
It doesn't help that there is no peaceful moments to let us rest compose ourselves here and there. The characters and dialogue are aggressive and intense too. Not that there's too much conversation - usually it's monologue or just barking orders.
Honestly, a flow like this feels more characteristic to documentary or trailer than a movie.
Even the leading man Mark Wahlberg, usually known for mild-mannered appearances, is pumped-up, biting, and in-your-face all the time, coming off as a weak personality rather than a true leader as probably intended.
Personally, I am sad that there's so little of Indonesian martial arts / action star Iko Uwais, known for "Serbuan maut" ("The Raid") and its sequel, "Star Wars: Episode VII" (as Razoo Quin-Fee), and "Man of Tai Chi". Maybe we see more of him later, "Mile 22" has been planned as a start to a trilogy.
It was refreshing to see major female characters - played by WWE/MMA star Ronda Rousey and "The Walking Dead's" Lauren Cohen - being ruthless and cold-blooded killers too. But they have relatively little screen time as well.
"Mile 22" is certainly not boring, and from what I was able to gather, the action looks cool too. But this kind of super-intense approach feels like overcooking it, even for an actioneer.
Many others have been even less generous than me, as evidenced by the critics' and users' scores at Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic (ranging from 23/100 to 5.3/10).
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Iko Uwais, Lauren Cohen, John Malkovich, Ronda Rousey.
There is a huge amount of "competence porn" type of movies and series - usually action or thrillers showing smart and tough people excelling at stuff that most of us can't. Those people usually work in secret organizations or units and deal with national security, acts of war etc.
One would think that it takes something special to stand out in such a crowded field, and one would be right. Peter Berg, the director of "Mile 22", is not, however, afraid to try.
He has succeeded in giving us something a bit different. The good news, the result is shorter than usual in the genre, only 94 minutes - thank heavens for some movies actually being satisfied with lasting less than two hours).
The bad news: being shorter and different have come at the expense of viewer-friendliness.
"Mile 22" is all action and almost nothing else. This is not a problem in itself but I have a troubke with the fact that most of the time, I could not really even quite understand what was happening on the screen.
It's this specific hectic style of producing and editing action scenes that can look cool when done right, but oftentimes just confuses and tires the viewer.
This trend is not new, it's been around since 2002's "The Bourne Identity" but this rarely gives great results. And "Mile 22" has achieved a new low.
Berg has taken this visual whirlwind approach to the max, making both action- and all other scenes difficult to follow. Most of the camerawork is from angles which don't give a satisfying overview of the place and people in it, and it gets worse when bloodletting starts.
The physical discomfort is also accentuated by sudden and creepy sounds, a trick usually more associated with horror movies.
Yes, the result feels original - but also hectic, and a bit mind-numbing. It's like a badly put together video-game with a sorely lacking camera system.
It doesn't help that there is no peaceful moments to let us rest compose ourselves here and there. The characters and dialogue are aggressive and intense too. Not that there's too much conversation - usually it's monologue or just barking orders.
Honestly, a flow like this feels more characteristic to documentary or trailer than a movie.
Even the leading man Mark Wahlberg, usually known for mild-mannered appearances, is pumped-up, biting, and in-your-face all the time, coming off as a weak personality rather than a true leader as probably intended.
Personally, I am sad that there's so little of Indonesian martial arts / action star Iko Uwais, known for "Serbuan maut" ("The Raid") and its sequel, "Star Wars: Episode VII" (as Razoo Quin-Fee), and "Man of Tai Chi". Maybe we see more of him later, "Mile 22" has been planned as a start to a trilogy.
It was refreshing to see major female characters - played by WWE/MMA star Ronda Rousey and "The Walking Dead's" Lauren Cohen - being ruthless and cold-blooded killers too. But they have relatively little screen time as well.
"Mile 22" is certainly not boring, and from what I was able to gather, the action looks cool too. But this kind of super-intense approach feels like overcooking it, even for an actioneer.
Many others have been even less generous than me, as evidenced by the critics' and users' scores at Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic (ranging from 23/100 to 5.3/10).