One Mile: Chapter One
One Mile: Chapter One is a very entertaining action thriller. It does not bring anything particularly new to the genre, but it works, moves well and makes its intentions quite obvious: this feels like an attempt to launch a new Taken-style franchise, only this time with Ryan Phillippe at the centre.
The film takes its time before fully entering action territory. It first focuses on Danny and Alex, a father and daughter with a difficult relationship shaped by absence, resentment and years of things left unsaid. That opening works because, once the story becomes violent, there is at least something more at stake than a convenient excuse for fighting.
Ryan Phillippe is good in the lead role. He does not try to imitate Liam Neeson or turn Danny into an invincible killing machine. He is experienced, capable and prepared to survive, but also tired, guilty and clearly trying to recover a part of his life he thought he had already lost.
The film seems very aware that it wants to build a character with potential beyond a single movie. The title already announces it, and throughout the story Danny is presented as someone who could easily be placed in future situations and further adventures. Whether the franchise continues remains to be seen, but as an introduction it works.
Amélie Hoeferle is also very good. She has presence, natural charisma and enough personality to avoid becoming the usual character who exists only to be rescued. Alex actively participates in what happens, reacts, makes decisions and helps make the father-daughter relationship believable.
Hoeferle clearly has a future. She handles both the emotional material and the tense sequences well, and she has a very strong screen presence. She is also strikingly beautiful, something the camera clearly recognises, but more importantly she never depends on that. She works as a character.
Once the film moves into survival territory, the tone changes considerably. What begins as a reconciliation road trip becomes a chase through the woods involving an isolated community, fanaticism and increasingly brutal violence.
This is where the movie most clearly becomes a straightforward, efficient action thriller. There are pursuits, fights, knives, bows and several physical confrontations. It is refreshing that the action does not rely entirely on endless gunfire.
The action is handled well and becomes surprisingly brutal in places. Danny does not feel like a superhero. He gets hurt, becomes exhausted and has to improvise. That gives the fights a little more weight and makes the danger feel at least somewhat credible.
The setting also works well. The forest gradually becomes a trap, with the constant sense that someone may be watching from anywhere. The film uses the landscape effectively and, despite its relatively modest scale, rarely looks cheap.
C. Thomas Howell fits comfortably as the leader of the strange isolated group. The character could have been more threatening, but Howell gives him enough presence and fanaticism to serve the story.
The screenplay contains several implausible ideas and some character decisions are undeniably ridiculous. This is not a film that benefits from too much analysis. Start asking why certain people behave the way they do or how this entire community operates, and the holes begin to appear.
But that is not really the point. One Mile: Chapter One wants to be a direct action thriller with a father-daughter relationship at its centre and a threat designed to test its protagonist.
Its biggest problem is that the words "Chapter One" affect the entire structure. The ending clearly announces that the story is not meant to stop here, and some elements feel included more to prepare future instalments than because this film genuinely needs them.
Still, as a first chapter it works. It has solid action, likeable leads, an effective location and a running time that never becomes exhausting.
This is not the birth of a new Taken, at least not yet, but that is clearly the direction it wants to follow. Ryan Phillippe has enough presence to carry this kind of action franchise, and Amélie Hoeferle is one of the film's strongest surprises.
Simple, effective and entertaining. Sometimes that is enough.
The film takes its time before fully entering action territory. It first focuses on Danny and Alex, a father and daughter with a difficult relationship shaped by absence, resentment and years of things left unsaid. That opening works because, once the story becomes violent, there is at least something more at stake than a convenient excuse for fighting.
Ryan Phillippe is good in the lead role. He does not try to imitate Liam Neeson or turn Danny into an invincible killing machine. He is experienced, capable and prepared to survive, but also tired, guilty and clearly trying to recover a part of his life he thought he had already lost.
The film seems very aware that it wants to build a character with potential beyond a single movie. The title already announces it, and throughout the story Danny is presented as someone who could easily be placed in future situations and further adventures. Whether the franchise continues remains to be seen, but as an introduction it works.
Amélie Hoeferle is also very good. She has presence, natural charisma and enough personality to avoid becoming the usual character who exists only to be rescued. Alex actively participates in what happens, reacts, makes decisions and helps make the father-daughter relationship believable.
Hoeferle clearly has a future. She handles both the emotional material and the tense sequences well, and she has a very strong screen presence. She is also strikingly beautiful, something the camera clearly recognises, but more importantly she never depends on that. She works as a character.
Once the film moves into survival territory, the tone changes considerably. What begins as a reconciliation road trip becomes a chase through the woods involving an isolated community, fanaticism and increasingly brutal violence.
This is where the movie most clearly becomes a straightforward, efficient action thriller. There are pursuits, fights, knives, bows and several physical confrontations. It is refreshing that the action does not rely entirely on endless gunfire.
The action is handled well and becomes surprisingly brutal in places. Danny does not feel like a superhero. He gets hurt, becomes exhausted and has to improvise. That gives the fights a little more weight and makes the danger feel at least somewhat credible.
The setting also works well. The forest gradually becomes a trap, with the constant sense that someone may be watching from anywhere. The film uses the landscape effectively and, despite its relatively modest scale, rarely looks cheap.
C. Thomas Howell fits comfortably as the leader of the strange isolated group. The character could have been more threatening, but Howell gives him enough presence and fanaticism to serve the story.
The screenplay contains several implausible ideas and some character decisions are undeniably ridiculous. This is not a film that benefits from too much analysis. Start asking why certain people behave the way they do or how this entire community operates, and the holes begin to appear.
But that is not really the point. One Mile: Chapter One wants to be a direct action thriller with a father-daughter relationship at its centre and a threat designed to test its protagonist.
Its biggest problem is that the words "Chapter One" affect the entire structure. The ending clearly announces that the story is not meant to stop here, and some elements feel included more to prepare future instalments than because this film genuinely needs them.
Still, as a first chapter it works. It has solid action, likeable leads, an effective location and a running time that never becomes exhausting.
This is not the birth of a new Taken, at least not yet, but that is clearly the direction it wants to follow. Ryan Phillippe has enough presence to carry this kind of action franchise, and Amélie Hoeferle is one of the film's strongest surprises.
Simple, effective and entertaining. Sometimes that is enough.
Mini Review: One Mile: Chapter One is a very entertaining action thriller. It does not bring anything particularly new to the genre, but it works, moves well and makes its intentions quite obvious: this feels like an attempt to launch a new Taken-style franchise, only this time with Ryan Phillippe at the centre. The film takes its time before fully entering action territory. It first focuses on Danny and Alex, a father and daughter with a difficult...