The worst: The lack of details
Comments: If you want a fast-paced action movie that doesn't bog you down with personal details or character development, do I have the movie for you!
It would be fair to say that Mile 22 is a run of the mill action movie stripped of the minutiae. There are small forays into backstory and motive for the characters, but as limited as those are it may have been better to just not try. One character is going through a divorce, one character had trouble relating to people and then his parents died, one character....actually....that may have been all the backstory.
The story is nothing new or exciting (get this person to safety 22 miles away through hostile territory), but it tries hard. The lack of character storylines leaves far too much time for the action - while the scenes are great it feels like too much of a good thing and it grows a bit stale. The big saving grace for the fighting is the presence of Iko Uwais as Li Noor. If you are not familiar with Iko Uwais - he is an Indonesian actor with some serious action movie chops - he stars in what may be the best martial arts movies of all time (The Raid). He got a credit in this movie as co-fight coordinator, and it shows in the quality of the fighting scenes. He brings enough to the table to make these extended action sequences palatable.
Overall, Mile 22 feels almost like a bare-boned movie. This is a mixed blessing, but not always a bad thing. By stripping away most character development it makes this a hollow movie that makes it hard to care if one person dies or if another lives - they are empty shells without much emotional attachment. But the action is good and enjoyable for the most part, and if all you want is 100 minutes of shooting and punching, you will not feel that you have wasted your time watching this movie.
Rating: 4/10 - but it could be enjoyable if you want a mindless fighting movie.
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