Option 1: Diplomacy. Option 2: Military. Meet Option 3.

Mile 22 is directed by Peter Berg (Battleship) and written by Lea Carpenter. Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter) stars alongside Lauren Cohan (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), Iko Uwais (The Raid), Ronda Rousey (Furious 7) and John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich). "An elite American intelligence officer, aided by a top-secret tactical command unit, tries to smuggle a mysterious police officer with sensitive information out of the country". Is James Silva about to become one of Mark Wahlberg's signature characters?

Anybody who would class Mile 22 as a good film is delusional. Films are usually subjective, but this is a rare case; Peter Berg's filmmaking defies all of the unspoken rules of directing. From overly choppy editing to a terribly complicated plot, Mile 22 is a disaster. Iko Uwais's action scenes are about the only good thing about it. It is loud, violent and erratic. Mile 22 moves at a monotonously fast-pace, dragging along phoned-in performances from Wahlberg and his supporting cast. Peter Berg's vision is all over the place; Mile 22 is the worst kind of action film. 

Mark Wahlberg and co have to travel 22 miles to smuggle a lucrative film from point A to point B. A plot that simple shouldn't lead to a film so incoherent. Carpenter's narrative could have taken the 'high-concept' rout and focused on an eventful, thrilling and dangerous 22-mile car journey. Instead, Carpenter opts to take some time setting up the story with ineffective character development and messy subplots. Mile 22 begins with a confusing action sequence - it isn't clear where the characters are or what their mission is. Unfortunately for the muddled audience, this sequence is crucial to the third act revelation. Iko Uwais's Li Noor is then introduced as well as two Russian operatives. It takes a long time for all of the characters to come together. Mile 22 is incredibly disjointed; it isn't clear how some characters are linked to others. There's also a lot of jargon surrounding Alice's (Cohan) home life and James (Wahlberg) has an insignificant conversation with one of the richest women in the world. James's backstory is detailed during the film's opening credits - a segment that doesn't typically require the audience's full attention. This comes off as rushed. Lea Carpenter's characters are forgettable, though she does attempt to develop her protagonist. 

Despite having the straight-forward task of travelling 22 miles to a designated runway, the characters keep stopping and consequently getting themselves into threatening situations. This is a classic example of spectacle distracting from a film's narrative. James does not mention these 'stop-offs' before setting off on the team's mission. They are blatantly inserted into the plot as an excuse to have a brutal action sequence (and kill another member of the team). James Silva and his team might just be the worst top-secret tactical command unit out there. Peter Berg's choppy editing and camerawork are nauseating. Even during dialogue-based scenes, Berg refuses to keep the camera in the same place for more than a second. This made the first act especially hard to follow as I adjusted to Berg's rapid pace. Berg also uses cutaways too often. 

If Mark Wahlberg was aiming for his own Ethan Hunt, Jason Bourne or Robert McCall with this role, he has failed miserably. James Silva is rather unlikeable and Wahlberg brings little to the character. James appears to suffer from anxiety because of childhood trauma. James wears an elastic wristband that he uses as a coping mechanism. The wristband quickly becomes irritating; instead of requiring Wahlberg to exercise his acting abilities, Berg and Carpenter simply have to zoom in on his wristband to remind the audience that James feels anxious. Berg attempts to portray James as somebody who is ruthless and easily outsmarts others. In doing so, James seems arrogant and narcissistic; he patronises the tech-geek who is trying to crack the code by telling her an irrelevant, long-winded historical story. Wahlberg lacks range anyway and this role will just be added to his back catalogue of macho roles. Iko Uwais is Mile 22's sole redeeming factor. Uwais is an excellent fighter and ensures all of his action sequences are brutal and exciting. Uwais puts everybody else to shame. However, the reveal that his character is a triple agent is nothing original - Atomic Blonde did it just last year (and they did it better). Mile 22 is supposed to be Mark Wahlberg's vehicle but Iko Uwais ultimately leaves him in the dust. 

Lauren Cohan and Ronda Rousey give lousy performances. Cohan plays Alice, a role that has been written with good intent but misses the mark completely. Alice is meant to be the film's strong, female character. However, all Alice talks about is her motherhood struggles; her divorced husband is making it difficult for Alice to see her daughter. The odd reference to her personal life would be fine, but it defines the character - she even has a breakdown during one of the action sequences! Cohan's Alice also has a terrible scene where she is interrogating Li (Uwais) and unnecessarily reminds him that her gender doesn't mean she can't be tough. It was needless for Alice to make such a remark and the wrong way to make a feminist comment. Cohan's performance wasn't great. A few years ago, Ronda Rousey stepped into Hollywood with roles in Furious 7, Entourage and The Expendables 3. Rousey's film career has clearly down spiralled since then because her role is tiny and she fails to make an impression. 

Oh boy, it's been a pretty terrible month for movies. Slender Man, The Happytime Murders, The Nun, The Predator and Mile 22 were all released in the past 30 days. All of which have a good chance of appearing on my 'worst of..' list at the end of the year. Aside from an energetic performance from Iko Uwais, I have nothing positive to say about Mile 22. Despite attempting to develop James Silva, Lea Carpenter has created a bunch of one-dimensional characters that are bland and irritating. From James's elaborate and irrelevant stories to Alice's mothering difficulties, the characters' 'quirks' and 'subplots' distract from and overcomplicate a very basic narrative. A film with a plot this simple shouldn't be so incoherent and all over the place. Berg prioritises [a messy and choppy] style over story. It's no surprise that Mile 22's script has major problems - this is Lea Carpenter's debut screenplay. However, for Peter Berg, who recently directed the acclaimed Deepwater Horizon and Patriots Day, it might be the end of the road...for his collaborations with Wahlberg anyway.