| When Chapter One and Chapter Two get released simultaneously and dumped on streaming it would be fair to be concerned that it’s only half a movie and/or really bad. One Mile: Chapter One is neither. It tells a complete story (even if it is a little choppy), and then sets you up for Chapter Two, but it’s not quite pay for two movies to get one movie which this type of release certainly suggests it could be. | | 2026
Directed by: Adam Davidson
Screenplay by: TJ Brady, John Hlavin, Rasheed Newson
Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Amelie Hoeferle
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The production value is really high. Filmed in Vancouver, all the shots are crisp, clean, fantastic cinematography. This is really nicely photographed, great set-up, well-produced, and it stars a big name actor. Ryan Philippe is indeed in all of it. All of which is to say this is an easy movie to get into and once you get into it, you’re likely to finish since it is only an hour and a half, and the action has to start eventually, right? Eventually.
Ryan Philippe stars as teenage-girl dad, Danny. He’s divorced and a mostly absentee father since he has spent his life as a special forces operative working overseas. But now he’s about to take his surly, teenage daughter on a college campus tour. He is mostly unprepared for her one-word answers and how little he actually knows of her likes and dislikes. He doesn’t even know what she wants to study in college.
The first act, which is a little under half the movie, is literally just a simple family drama with dad Danny driving Alex to colleges and slowly getting to know her. When she finally opens up and wants to add a new college to their itinerary, they are forced to spend the night at a scenic, seemingly idyllic campground. The second act of the movie is a wilderness survival tale as Alex and Danny are on the run from a group of violent cultists living off the grid. The third act is when you get most of the action, and most of the violence. There is a lot of blood shed and a lot of gruesome deaths for such a short movie especially when the plot gets wrapped up quickly.
For those of us who like simple family dramas, this is a much better movie, since there is a lot more relationship dynamics happening than just action and violence which it is marketed as. For everyone else, it’s going to be awfully slow and a long build up to get to the action.
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