One Mile:
Chapter One & Two
review by Bobby Blakey
Ryan Phillippe has been in a wide variety of genres but knowing his martial arts background have always hoped to get more straight up action roles. His latest film One Mile pits him against the always great C. Thomas Howell in a two-part action flick co-starring Amelie Hoeferle, Sage Linder, Richard Harmon, and Sara Canning. Could this action revenge flick bring the promised action or will it fail to hit its target?
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One Mile follows an ex-special forces operative who goes off-the-grid when his daughter is kidnapped by a violent community. Alone and outnumbered, he's forced to use every skill he has to track them down, take them apart, and bring his daughter home.
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This story here is one that we have seen in some form numerous times throughout the years. The standout here for me was the chance to see Phillippe in a full-on action film with plenty of fight sequences and that’s what we get. The tone does feel more like a TV series or TV movies but still works well enough to be successful. The initial set up is a bit slow by design as we learn about the relationships, characters and their reasoning for what transpires.
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The interesting thing here is the choice to make two films and release them at the same time which I applaud. It didn’t really need to be two parts, but the decision to do so works since they are essentially two different focuses despite being a continuation. The first film is very much about this father, and daughter’s fight to try to survive whereas the second film pits him in more of a prepared revenge mission to find her after the events of the first film. IT also doesn’t pick right up as one long day but still connects in a good way.
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Phillippe does a good job with the role and at ease with the action. While he got plenty of fight time it still wasn’t the more martial arts style that I have been waiting for him to get to showcase. The other side of this story sits C. Thomas Howell who brings subtle approach to his bad guy. He is a scary guy, but in a way that you can understand why he thinks he is doing the right thing while also being a scary thought. Their game of cat and mouse through both films is the reason it works at all even though it tends to be pretty by the numbers. At times there are elements that kind of felt forced to extend the life of what they were trying to do with the story in hopes of filling in the two runtimes but thankfully most of it works fine for what they are trying to accomplish.
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These films aren’t breaking down any barriers in the action genre, but it is entertaining enough to be worth checking out both films. If you like old school action films or any of the cast involved, then give them a try. The biggest advantage is that if you don’t enjoy the first one you can move on, but if you do then you don’t have to wait to dive right into the second film.
Decide for yourself and check out One Mile: Chapter One and Two both hitting digital on February 20th from Republic Pictures.