Mile 22 Review: 3 Ups & 6 Downs

2. The Cringe-Worthy "Comic Relief"

This film's tone is totally all over the place, to be blunt. While it's a frequently nasty, brutal thriller, it's also peppered with bizarre, misguided attempts at humour that fall totally flat.

There are countless quips between Silva and teammate Alice (Lauren Cohan) about his mental instability and generally sociopathic nature, and Wahlberg also gets many opportunities to drop "pithy" one-liners about the mission.

The comedic dialogue clashes harshly with the movie's generally harsher tone, and more than anything they feel like a failed attempt to smooth the film's edges out and make Wahlberg's protagonist more likeable.

The best/worst comic relief moment arrives near the tail-end of the film, when a character inexplicably tells Silva, "Say hi to your mother for me", seemingly in reference to the famous Andy Samberg SNL impression of Wahlberg.

It's howlingly out of place in a scene that's otherwise completely serious, and underlines the film's frequent mood whiplash.