The curious decision to release One Mile straight to streaming alongside its sequel immediately caught my attention — even more so when I discovered C. Thomas Howell — forever a favourite since The Hitcher — was playing the villain, while Ryan Phillippe appeared to be channelling his inner Liam Neeson.
And yes… I was completely TAKEN in by the whole concept.
So naturally, I sat down hoping for exactly what films like this should deliver: cheap thrills, ridiculous action and a bit of entertaining nonsense.
To be fair, the first chapter is actually pretty decent — even if it brings very little new to the “revenge-seeking parent” genre.
The opening sequence immediately dips its toes into familiar horror territory — minus the gore, of course — as a young couple are directed towards a “perfect campsite” by a suspiciously enthusiastic gas station worker.
Have these people never seen the likes of Wrong Turn?
Naturally, the pair soon find themselves battling a group of violent locals before eventually succumbing to their fate. From here we meet Phillippe’s Danny — the standard ex-special forces hardman who sacrificed family life for his career, leaving his relationship with daughter Alex (Amélie Hoeferle) hanging by a thread.
In an attempt to reconnect, Danny agrees to take Alex on a tour of several colleges — a father-daughter bonding trip that actually gives the film a surprising amount of heart as the pair awkwardly try to repair their fractured relationship.
Of course, because this is that kind of movie, they eventually end up on the exact same road leading to the exact same campsite and nothing repairs family bonds quite like a violent showdown.
Before long, Danny and Alex find themselves fighting for survival against a gang of violent locals taking orders from Howell’s Stanley. The reason why? Well… it’s all pretty daft.
Stanley leads a crazed backwoods community that kidnaps women in order to continue their bloodline, after toxins have apparently left the locals infertile… or something along those lines.
To be honest, the cult angle is never explored in any real depth. Instead, the film focuses almost entirely on Danny fighting to save his daughter through a steady barrage of fistfights, shootouts and the occasional torture sequence — though don’t panic, we’re not talking full-on Saw-style gore porn here.
Chapter One is easily the stronger and more enjoyable half of the experience, and honestly, the story could probably have ended there. Chapter Two mostly retreads familiar ground, serving up repeated flashbacks and an overwhelming sense of déjà vu as the plot begins recycling events from the first film.
To Phillippe’s credit, he handles the action scenes well enough, and thanks to the entertaining first chapter there’s definitely enough momentum to make you curious about where things are heading next. It’s just a shame the filmmakers didn’t condense the entire story into one tighter movie, because by the halfway point of Chapter Two, boredom starts creeping in alongside increasingly illogical plot developments — including the rather glaring question of how this supposedly devastated community is still functioning after the chaos of the previous film.
Still, if you’re simply after an easy, disposable action thriller for a rainy afternoon, ONE MILE will probably scratch that itch — even if both chapters are likely to fade from memory almost as quickly as the credits roll.
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