Mile 22
*ing: Mark Wahlberg, John Malkovich, lauren Cohan, Iko Uwais, Ronda Rousey
Rated: 5/10
This one is more mayhem than it is a film — much too violent both with the action and the hyper moving camera. Blood, gore, car chases, killings, shootings, ambushes and more gets interlocked by staccato editing, a melee of clasped scenes, flashbacks, shots and characters questioning the parameters of coherence.
Produced by Mark Wahlberg who also plays the main sleuth, the problem of the film is that it talks too much. There is way too much oral content-sharing that should be there in a film so high on action, chases and violence. Yes, the sequences have been etched out with well and yes the violence is blood curdling. But again, there is too much of it and many times needlessly profane for a drive up to the airport.
The premise is a Russian double agent who wins the trust of American agents and demands from them a plane ride out of the country in exchange for information about ticking explosives about to blow up many cities across America. He is a dangerous asset who has the ability to repel assassins with bare handcuffed hands and also a back story convincing all of his intent.
Had the incoherence and aggression in the proceedings not been so overly covert, had the camera work been less hand-held, had the characters had more flesh, had the sequences been more polished and had the execution of the plot been less complex visually, Mile 22 would have worked better, especially when it leaves a window for a sequel so wide open.