Mile 22 (Blu-ray) (2018)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Featurette-8
Rating
Year Of Production	2018
Running Time	94:19
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Peter Berg
Studio Distributor	STX Films Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Mark Wahlberg Lauren Cohen John Malkovich Ronda Rousey Iko Uwais
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Descriptive Audio DTS HD Master Audio 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.40:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Well, this film, Mile 22 is certainly a mixed bag of various elements. It combines surveillance thriller (a la Enemy of the State) with international spies, ultra violent martial arts, revenge thriller and some of the most bizarre dialogue I have heard in recent times. There are elements here done well especially the opening sequence but there is also a lot of stuff which feels out of place. The story is not well told, the characters are not explained at all well but there is certainly loads of violence and action sequences. It reminds me somewhat of Den of Thieves, the recent Gerard Butler vehicle but that is a much better film. It also reminded me of 16 Blocks, the older Bruce Willis film because of the imperative to get someone somewhere quickly with people trying to kill them, and also similar titles. In that case Bruce needed to get someone 16 blocks of New York, in this case Mark Wahlberg and team need to get Iko Uwais 22 miles across a fictional Asian city (played by Bogota, Columbia in probably the film's best performance). Even 16 Blocks is a better film than this and it is certainly nothing special.

    The story involves a paramilitary unit of the CIA, led on the ground by James Silva (Mark Wahlberg) but supported with surveillance and air cover by a remote team led by Bishop (John Malkovich). At the beginning of the film they swoop on a Russian intelligence group planning something from a suburban house in the US. Silva's team, including Alice Kerr (Lauren Cohen from The Walking Dead), William 'Dougie' Douglas (Carlo Alban) and Sam Snow (Ronda Rousey), take down the Russian team but eventually need to eliminate them all. Some years later, Silva and his team are in an Asian city trying to find some Caesium which has been stolen and will be made into dirty bombs. A source, Li Noor (Iko Uwais), tells Alice that he can tell them where the Caesium is but must be given asylum in the US as the government will kill him if he remains. Of course, the local intelligence services are onto them and do not want them to leave with Noor. So begins a 22 mile journey to get Noor across the city to an airport and onto an American transport plane. Much violence, death, gore, shooting, car chases, ass kicking and oddball dialogue ensues.

    The film was directed by Peter Berg, probably best known for Deepwater Horizon, Patriot's Day and Lone Survivor all of which feature Mark Wahlberg. Those are all pretty good films so I was hoping for more from this one. Unfortunately, due to the story not being compelling, the characters not being well-rounded or engaging and the dialogue being odd, you are really only left with the sickening violence. I quite like violent action films and martial arts but there were a few moments in this one that made me feel uncomfortable and I am somewhat surprised that this didn't slip into a local R rating here in Australia. Back in the day, The Godfather was rated R but that is a movie for kiddies by comparison. Wahlberg, Cohen and Malkovich are fine in their roles but the lack of proper characters reduces their impact. Uwais is not here for his acting skills. Although there are some good action sequences the fast moving, sometimes hand-held camera work which is meant to bring realism can sometimes be distracting. The film did get a theatrical release but underperformed making around $60 million at the global box office. It was planned as the first movie of a trilogy but this is probably at risk.

    I find it hard to recommend this film, however, fans of Uwais will certainly get something from it.

Video

    The feature is presented in a 2.40:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio in 1080p. I have read that it was shot in 8K and finished in 4K which is believable due to the impressive detail and sharpness even in 2K on this disc. I suppose a 4K disc will be desired by some but I can understand the distributors not bothering considering the quality of the film.

    The colour is good although this film purposefully has a mostly dull colour scheme with grimy apartments etc., as the scene of much of the action.

    There are subtitles available in English for the Hearing Impaired which are clear and easy to read.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    This disc contains an English soundtrack in DTS HD-MA 5.1 and a descriptive audio track in DTS HD-MA 2.0. This is an aggressive soundtrack with action scenes using all the speakers and surrounding the audience with sounds of battle. The crunching of bones and gunshots stand out clearly and fill the soundstage. The sound quality certainly adds to the visceral nature of the film.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand on most occasions (although it might have been preferable not to hear a lot of it).

    The subwoofer did a good job supporting the action, crashes, bashes, etc.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu includes music.

Overwatch (1:56)

Introducing Iko Uwais (1:48)

    Iko Uwais and his choreography of fights.

Badass Woman (1:44)

Stunts (1:56)

Ground Branch (1:44)

I might be a little worse (0:36)

Iko Fight (1:47)

Modern Combat (1:56)

    The US release of this film includes a DTS HD-MA 7.1 soundtrack, Spanish subtitles and one slightly longer featurette about shooting in Columbia, in addition to the contents of our local release. It does not include the audio descriptive track, so this local release is certainly better for the visually impaired. Most consumers will prefer the US release. There is no 4K in the US either.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is very good.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall