The Reel Review
In this fourth collaboration between director Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg, a U.S. paramilitary team is tasked with extracting a strategic asset from a Southeast Asian country past a gauntlet of military, police and street gangs. Lauren Cohan (The Walking Dead) and former MMA fighter Ronda Rousey do a fine job rounding out the elite team. But there is only one real star of this film – Indonesian actor Iko Uwais (The Raid), whose martial arts background is showcased in an impressive, non-stop frenzy of pulse-pounding action. It’s just a shame that the story itself is such brainless espionage mumbo jumbo, set to the pace of a Homeland episode hyped on Red Bulls, and with Wahlberg’s character so exceptionally unlikable. But never mind all that, because this silly film has only one goal – to get the testosterone of its target audience of young men flowing, and in that mission it succeeds.
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