Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Mile 22 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 17, 2018

Mile 22 is movie that seems full of angst and bitterness, written by Lea Carpenter and directed by Perter Berg as if they woke up on the wrong side of the bed and decided to vicariously, and viciously, take out their frustrations through a cinematic swarm of bullets, a barrage of bad language, and angry discussions about divorce and who can decipher what else. Throw in Cinematographer Jacques Jouffret's ceaselessly jumping and jittering camera and Editor Colby Parker Jr. and Melissa Lawson Cheung's incomprehensible assembly of already confused material and the movie feels like an escapee of an asylum where hopelessly mangled movies are kept under lock-and-key. The movie is a schizophrenic, nearly indecipherable mess that follows an elite team of covert CIA operatives, which includes Mark Wahlberg and Lauren Cohan in the field and John Malkovich in command at an operations center, given the task of protecting an asset in some far off place. Said asset has a code to a hard drive with data they need to prevent dangerous materials from falling into the wrong hands, and the drive will self-destruct in some allotted amount of time if he isn’t safely escorted to a waiting airplane. It might have made for passable entertainment under more straightforward story and character parameters, maybe even playing out in real time, but it’s a sluggish and slapdash film that’s barely coherent, if it is at all, and a drastic departure from Berg’s and Wahlberg's best and most recent pictures.

The film’s open is reminiscent of Enemy of the State, a film that ushered in the era of digital surveillance, and it's the best sequence in the film. It commands the screen and instantly builds a sense of the complexities and exactness of modern combat operations, revealing the team -- in the field and back at the command center -- to be the proverbial well-oiled machine. Even if the mission ultimately goes awry, it shows how the team operates within very specific parameters and through finely-honed cooperation and skill. The movie absolutely self-destructs afterwards. Berg and company do away with all but the most essential semblance of structural reason and flow. The middle stretch is an incomprehensible mess that strives to develop characters through a prism of bitterness, bad language, and brutal acting, the latter almost certainly a result of a script that leaves the actors with little to do but angrily recite the dialogue given to them while the camera jumps around them. Alice’s family failures only slow down an already terribly dull and directionless film and elicit no emotional response there or later in the film with a gun in her hand and blood on her face. The filmmakers simply pile on angst that does nothing to drive the action to come to bring the audience closer to characters who make no effort to extend a connective tissue to the audience.

By the time it reaches the third act, Mile 22 has already isolated its audience and clearly abandoned any pretense of worthwhile storytelling or character drama. It devolves further into an Action film that spits bullets and throws punches for the sake of action alone, not in any way to support a story beyond the A-to-B basics of getting the “asset” to the finish line. The depiction or urban warfare across a lengthy stretch of terrain is certainly the film’s most appealing component. It’s violent and unapologetically so, but it was done better in movies like Black Hawk Down and Den of Thieves. The former managed to build character depth and narrative purpose despite the would-be hindrances of a large character roster and multi-tentacled goings-on. The latter preceded its ultra-violent urban finale with less-than-ideal characterization and itself dabbled in needless character fluff, but it’s a genius film next to Mile 22, a movie about angry characters shaped by an indecipherable story within incomprehensible editing led by a director who seems to have dove off the deep end after making a trio of first-class films with Mark Wahlberg -- Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon, Patriots Day -- that are each the opposite of this disaster, filled with characterization, purpose, and heart. Mille 22 has none of that and it should have none of the audience's precious moviegoing time, either.

Mile 22 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mile 22 was digitally shot at a resolution of 8K (and finished at 4K per the same source; blame the poor reception and performance for the absence of a 4K UHD release). Some residual noise is visible throughout the film, notably in lower light scenes and venues. Beyond the noise, the image is a winner. Facial complexities are striking, reveling wonderfully intimate pores and hairs, and when characters become bloodied from battle, there's no mistaking the carefully and complexly revealed sweat and wounds that the Blu-ray showcases with stunning visibility and clarity. Environments are likewise sharp, even in low light and through dense smoke and bursts of gunfire. The color presentation is strong. Fiery explosions, bright red blood, attire, and splashes seen throughout the film's urban final act appear accurately presented and deeply saturated. Skin tones appear true to character complexions. Black levels are largely strong with only minor pushes away from true black.

Mile 22 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mile 22 has not received a Dolby Atmos or DTS:X audio presentation for its Blu-ray release, a surprise given that the film is action-heavy and a recent release (though perhaps not surprising given the absence of a UHD disc) but the included DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack is more than sufficient. Surrounds engage with frequency. From the opening shootout to the final moments, the rear channels -- all four of them -- compliment the fronts with intensive and balanced usage to capture battle chaos, present gunfire in proportion to the on-screen action, and carry several examples of atmospheric fill through the city streets, and even in a few cases beyond, such as radio chatter and noise inside the command center. Of course the front speakers carry the bulk of the workload and work seamlessly with the rears. Bass could stand to feature a little more rocking depth but there's a fair heft to subwoofer output. Dialogue clarity, positioning, and prioritization are never problem spots for this track.

Mile 22 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Mile 22's Blu-ray contains a handful of featurettes, only one of which runs longer than two minutes. A DVD copy of the film and an iTunes digital copy code are included with purchase. The release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• Overwatch (1080p, 1:36): Cast and crew discuss the mysterious paramilitary branch of the CIA depicted in the film.
• Introducing Iko Uwais (1080p, 1:48): A short piece focusing on the actor/choreographer, his martial arts, and what he brings to his role.
• Iko Fight (1080p, 1:47): A glimpse into making one of the most intense action scenes in the movie.
• Bad Ass Women (1080p, 1:44): A look at the film's two powerful female characters and the actors who brought them to life.
• Behind-the-Scenes Stunts (1080p, 1:56): A too-quick piece that explores the realism in the film's action and stunts.
• Modern Combat (1080p, 1:56): Another look at the realism and practical effects used in the film. It also again touches on fight choreography.
• Colombia (1080p, 3:45): Shooting in Bogota, Colombia.
• Trailers (1080p): Includes Trailer 1 (2:38), Trailer 2 (2:38), Trailer 3 (2:34), Trailer 4 (2:31), and Trailer 5 (1:20).

Mile 22 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's a scene later on in Mile 22 in which several characters discuss Mark Wahlberg's Silva by assigning him a barrage of diagnoses when he blabbers with the enemy: "Bipolar," he's called. "Manic-depressed," "narcissistic disorder," and "dissociative disorder" are the terms given to him. Those not only describe his character, they also largely sum up the film and its filmmakers. Mile 22 might have been something worthwhile had it been a more straightforward Action film, a 90-minute nail biter without any pretense or provocation. Instead it's a sad departure from Berg's most recent, and best, films. It's barely coherent, difficult to watch, and its action scenes can't match other films with similar urban run-and-gun sequences like the aforementioned Black Hawk Down and Den of Thieves. Universal's Blu-ray does deliver high quality video and audio paired with a handful of short extra features. Skip it.