Mile 22

Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Lauren Cohan, Iko Uwais, John Malkovich, Ronda Rousey. Natasha Goubskaya, Carlos Alban, Sam Medina

Director: Peter Berg

No brains are required for this all-action film starring Wahlberg as Jimmy Silva, the leader of a special missions unit who are called in when diplomacy and conventional action fail.

Here he and his squad (Cohan, Alban and Rousey - the MMA champ not called on to do any combat scenes) have to escort a double-agent (Uwais) on a dangerous 22-mile journey from the centre of a (fictitious) far eastern country - the film was actually shot in Colombia - to a distant airplane, there to be transported to America.

Barring their way are dozens of conventional eastern and Russian goons, part of a vengeance plan launched by a powerful politician whose son Silva killed on an earlier mission.

Dialogue is perfunctory and spat out at bullet speed, while the plot, such as it is, is completely unbelievable, leaving the action, which involves Wahlberg and Co gunning down dozens of the aforementioned goons and taking the occasional casualty themselves, as the film's sole raison d'etre.

The Indonesian silat master Uwais does get to demonstrate his martial arts skills in some fiercely edited combat scenes, in an action blast that is pretty much what fans will expect, if breaking no new ground.

David Quinlan

USA/Colombia 2018. UK Distributor: STX International. Technicolor.
94 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 18.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 2, Drugs 0, Swearing 3.

Review date: 17 Sep 2018