MILE 22
US, 2018, 94 minutes, Colour.
Mark Wahlberg, Lauren Cohan, Iko Uwais, John Malkovich, Rhonda Rousey.
Directed by Peter Berg.
This action film is rather exhausting to watch even as we sit in the comfortable multiplex seat. There is a lot of action.
Just to get ourselves into the picture, it is useful to know where Mile 22 actually is. The action of the film, apart from a shootout set in the United States, is in a fictionalised Southeast Asian city (although actually filmed in Colombia). There is some drama in the American Embassy in the city and the need to get a subject to the airport, with the group being continually threatened, which is at Mile 22 from the Embassy.
Director Peter Berg has become something of an expert in making fast action films in recent years. Famous for Friday Night Lights, he has been to Saudi Arabia for The Kingdom, Afghanistan for Lone Survivor, the Gulf of Mexico for Deepwater Horizon, the Boston Marathon for Patriots’ Day. He has worked with Mark Wahlberg in several of these films – so we really know what to expect.
Because of the unnamed country, the variety of racial types, the presence of the Americans and their covert activities, the main part of the film with a desperate mission to get those 22 miles, the plot is not always easy to follow.
In the opening, there is a siege as a house in the American suburbs, agents outside, well-armed, a huge surveillance centre presided over by John Malkovich. It seems there are Russian agents inside. All this serves as an introduction to the covert agents and their supervision. There Is actually a twist which is revealed at the end.
In the Southeast Asian city, Alice (Lauren Cohan), who is also observed in a number of domestic problems at home, his partner with Jimmy Silva, a hyper- intelligent whizzkid, seemingly emotionless agent, played by Mark Wahlberg, has contact with a local policeman who has the key to some kind of code which the agency is trying to open. This man, Li, is played by Iko Uwais whom fans of tough action films will remember from the two Indonesian action shows, The Raid. (In those films he showed an extraordinary agility with his martial arts and get several opportunities to show this agility here.)
The local authorities do not want Li to leave the country and take every opportunity to make the trip to Mile 22 a dangerous obstacle course. This provides a whole lot of car chases, car explosions, detours into dangerous buildings, agents sacrificing themselves with explosives to stop pursuers.
And, as mentioned, there is something of a twist at the very end.
This film might be successful with action fans – but Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg should move onto the next one (which they apparently have).
1. The political action adventure? Agents? Secrecy? Covert operations? Surveillance?
2. The settings? Southeast Asia? International? This film being made in Colombia – and the visuals of the Latin American city? The musical score?
3. The title, the focus of the main action, the extraditing of the agent, the landing strip, the plane, the journey out of the city and its dangers?
4. The opening, the operation in the US, the couple at the door, the white house and its being blue, the audience then seeing the agents outside with the arms, Bishop, the range of surveillance, his orders and control, orchestrating the operation? The visuals? The voice contact? The Russian connection? The people inside the house, the deaths? And the execution of the young man aged 18? The audience discovering the repercussions at the end?
5. The introduction to James Silva, the background of his life, images, the death of his parents, precocious and intelligent, education, his being recruited, a tough agent? Emotions and lack of emotion? Intelligence?
6. The operation in Asia? Alice and her work, her guaranteeing that Li was genuine? The background of her own domestic concerns, talking with her husband, with her daughter, alienation from her husband, her dedication to her work? The ban on swearing and its cutting her off?
7. Silva, his interactions with Alice, with the other members of the staff, his suspicions about Li?
8. Li, as a policeman, but more, with the code, the operative trying to decipher the code? The time limits?
9. The audience seeing the Russians, and the plane, the two officials, the woman in charge? The plans, the sabotage? And the motivation being revealed at the end – and the death of her son? Her revenge?
10. The testing of Li, the interrogations, the psychological tests, his coming through? His skill in martial arts? The variety of scenes, the attempts on his life? His smooth and charming manner?
11. Getting Li to the airport, Bishop and his control, Silva and Alice in the car, the other agents? Cyclists and their putting things explosives the car, the explosions, the crashes, the need to leave the car, getting into buildings, Bishop explaining ways of escape, providing other cars? In the building with the little girl, her helping Alice? Alice and her fighting off the attackers?
12. The local authorities, the meetings with Silva and the other authorities, their being part of the pursuit, the chief, his death?
13. The various agents, their being shot, the bombs and their giving their lives in the explosions?
14. At the airport, the plane taking off, Silva going onto the tarmac, getting Li and Alice on the plane?
15. The solving of the code, the results coming up on the map, the truth about Li, his being a triple agent?
16. The vengeance of the Russians? Silva left at the tarmac – and the framework of the film with his explaining the situation to the authorities and his being interviewed?
