Film Review: Mile 22

Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime

Cert: R-rated

Director:  Peter Berg

Screenwriter: (screenplay by) Lea Carpenter, (story by) Graham Roland, Lea Carpenter

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Lauren Cohan, Iko Uwais, John Malkovich, Ronda Rousey, Carlo Alban, Natasha Goubskaya, Chae-rin Lee, Sam Medina, Keith Arthur Bolden,  Jenique Hendrix,  Billy Smith, Myke Holmes, Emily Skeggs, Terry Kinney

Running time: 1h 34min

Parents advised reading before viewing the film as some scene may contain scenes unsuitable for younger viewers.

Sex & Nudity:

• On a couple of occasions, women are seen exiting a shower. Skin and side-breast is shown, but no actual nudity.
• Silva barges into a woman's locker room where Alice is getting out of a shower, though she's covered by a towel.
• Li, as part of a physical/psychological exam, strips down to his underwear: We wind up seeing quite a bit of his physique

Violence & Gore:

• A group of soldiers ambush a house filled with spies. At first only a couple people are shot, but eventually, people are executed one by one by a gunshot to the head. One person's headshot is closely shown and graphics.
• A badly burned person is shot at close range in the head. None graphic.
• A car explodes, killing everyone in the car except for one. The survivor is shown very badly wounded and heavily bleeding.
• In one sequence of brutal hand to hand combat, men are repeatedly beaten, some have their limbs visibly broken. 2 are brutally killed by medical instruments, a moderate amount of blood.
• In an extended gunfight, more than 10 people are shot on screen in various levels of violence. Some just fall, others are visibly shot and bleed. Grenades and other explosions. Civilians are caught in the crossfire. A few people are shown being shot in the legs and then killed with a bullet to the head with plenty of blood.
• A person commits suicide using grenades when surrounded by gunmen.
• In a quick but brutal scene of hand to hand fighting. Several men have their limbs visibly broken and are shot in the head at close range with plenty of blood.
• After a car window is broken, a man murders another man by sliding his neck back and forth on the bottom of the broken window.
• A young girl, possibly 6 to 8, is in peril during another extended gunfight involving dozens of people. Grenades are used as booby traps, people are yet again shot and killed in brutal fashion (gun-fu).
• A man is shot multiple times while holding back armed attackers, he slips around in his own blood and eventually dies.
• A man is stabbed multiple times by a broken piece of glass.
• In a crowded bakery, a large fight breaks out, with yet again, several people being shot and beaten, with civilians in the crossfire, eventually, a grenade is thrown into the building which still contains civilians including children.
• A car full of people is destroyed by a missile.
• A room full of unarmed people is shot to pieces by a hail of gunfire.
• Some assailants attack others with blades or other sharp implements.
• If the caesium is used as is feared, we hear that the ensuing fatalities could be astronomical.
• Silva reminds his team what happened to Japanese citizens who suffered from radiation poisoning at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
• News clips likewise showcase some real-world violence.

Profanity:

• The very strong language you would expect from soldiers and special forces. Many F-words, several said in extreme anger. Plenty of other lesser words.
• Silva and others use more than 60 f-words, along with about 15 s-words.
• Other profanities include "a--hole," "b--ch" and "h---," along with a litany of others (including a harsh slang phrase referencing oral sex).
• God's name is misused twice, once with "d--n," while Jesus' name is abused once. 

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking:

• None

Frightening/Intense Scenes: 

• Scene throughout the film are extremely intense
  

Story: In a visceral modern thriller from the director of Lone Survivor, Mark Wahlberg stars as James Silva, an operative of the CIA's most highly-prized and least-understood unit. Aided by a top-secret tactical command team, Silva must retrieve and transport an asset who holds life-threatening information to Mile 22 for extraction before the enemy closes in

Likes: Well you can't say this film isnt hard-hitting, Action from start to finish with a story that does work in areas although not so much in other as it does give away certain things which the film is far from perfect which most of the critics have point out, which is understandable.

But I assure you this film is actually good despite certain flaws, the action flow very fast, doesn't give you a breathing room, as it all out cat and mouse gunfighting through the street which gives the film entertainment.

You really do get that sense that the stakes are high throughout this film which most film kind of miss the mark on these type of films, special when it on even ground when you have highly train good guys and highly trained bad guys it become this fist for fist fight against all odds with high stakes.

This is the way this films best moments come across, with a great cast of actress and actor working together to bring a great film, Mark Wahlberg stands out above the rest which this extremely dark nature, I do mean dark.
His dialogue seriously lets loose when he ive being a sarcastic ass hole or seriously getting in people faces like a psychotic mental ill person issue that seen to much shit with a dark mind, which really gives his character someone you do not want to mess with so you kind of get his character from this alone.


What to expect from this film is great action, street to street gunfights and explosion, Strong language and bloody violence throughout, with a twist in the story, which great stunt work with the cars chases, with great acting.

Despite some flaws it a film I recommend watching this film, ignore the bad reviews as if the film isnt self isnt that bad, but it could've been better in places, but with the way it ended it need a sequel.


Dislikes: Anyone that knows me will know I hate action scene with shaky camera effects, which some parts of this do use which is a can't stand, because you can see what going on, this is one thing that annoys me in films, the other thing is the story twist is a little predictable it doesn't give a great job of hiding the twist, but thankfully the rest of the film carries the film story along.

Overall: Great action, Great performances, good story, ok twist although slighty predictable

Rating: 5 out of 5 for Entertainment / 8.2 out of 10 for the concept.