Mile 22 Review: Iko Uwais deserves better

Nicholas Solomon

At around 90 minutes, this film still made me doze off.

Directed by Peter Berg (Lone Survivor, Patriot’s Day), this action movie has a simple premise that is not done any justice- some CIA agents (portrayed by Mark Wahlberg, Lauren Cohan and Ronda Rousey) have to transport a defector (Iko Uwais) 22 miles to a plane, with the stretch being filled with violent motorcycle-driving goons hell bent on getting the defector.

Almost all of the lead characters are incredibly unlikable and cringeworthy in this film- Wahlberg’s character is the worst as he basically gives the worst performance I have ever seen him do, with Cohan’s being that to a lesser extent (although I have only seen her in The Walking Dead and Chuck, and I am not sure if she IS a good actor)  and usually known for being incredibly wooden, Rousey was actually good in this movie- she doesn’t give an Oscar worthy –performance, but she deserves recognition that she has gotten a bit better- but it might be because she is put next to Wahlberg and Cohan.  Uwais however, did awesome. He was totally believable, and really was given the short end of the stick with how he was literally the best part of the film with the least amount of screen time.

Walhberg’s character is awful. I think the filmmakers attempted to make him some EXTREMELY talkative but badass military dude with an anxiety problem, but I often couldn’t understand what he was saying- and I liked it better that way. Cohan’s was just that but not as high strung and with not as nearly as much lines.

The film starts out incredibly boring- it takes a significant amount of time, and the actual 22 miles probably happens at the last quarter of the movie.  I got the feeling the entire time of watching the movie that it was taking itself very seriously- it attempts  to be some smart spy thriller but the plot is dumb, and it tries to make you care about the characters when you really don’t- its whole intro sequence is giving background to Wahlberg’s character when it just wastes time and adds absolutely nothing to the plot The exposition is where it made me doze off- it was just incredibly boring and you didn’t even know the main point of this movie until late into the film.

Other than the really dumb plot, the characters and acting for the most part are particularly terrible. Almost all of the lead characters are incredibly unlikable and cringeworthy in this film- Wahlberg’s character is the worst as he basically gives the worst performance I have ever seen him do, with Cohan’s being that to a lesser extent (although I have only seen her in The Walking Dead and Chuck, and I am not sure if she IS a good actor, but Marky Mark has done better)  and usually known for being incredibly wooden, Rousey was actually good in this movie- she doesn’t give an Oscar worthy –performance, but she deserves recognition that she has gotten a bit better- but it might be because she is put next to Wahlberg and Cohan.  Uwais however, did awesome. He was totally believable, and really was given the short end of the stick with how he was literally the best part of the film with the least amount of screen time.

I can’t emphasize enough how bad Wahlberg’s character is.. I think the filmmakers attempted to make him some EXTREMELY talkative but badass military dude with an anxiety problem (sort of a Gregory House type) but I often couldn’t understand what he was saying- and I liked it better that way, as pretty much everything he said was just groan inducing.

This film does have a tiny bit of awesome action though, emphasis on tiny. Mr. Uwais’s fight scenes are brutal and awesome- there is one particular scene with him that is absolutely one of the best fight scenes in a movie this year (which I recommend to action fans to just look up his scenes on youtube when they show up), but that is it. THe rest of the action is just jump cut after jump cut that was just as boring as the exposition.

Overall, this film isn’t worth watching- it should’ve been just placed on TNT and FX as a permanent rerun from the get-go.  I have hope that Rousey will get better as time goes on, and Uwais needs to be given more lead roles in American film (I highly recommend The Raid: Redemption and its sequel if you like Uwais), and not relegated to some small bit part. Wahlberg and Cohan didn’t do anything for me, and perhaps the final nail on the coffin of mediocrity is the ending- it has the most unneeded sequel-bait cliffhanger, when the film itself is so thin on plot, and I predict this film will either not get any sequels, or a ton of money will be wasted making this ho-hum movie into a franchise.