One Mile: Chapter One

A college tour turns into a gauntlet here, and the shift happens fast. A father just out of special forces wants a weekend to close the distance between himself and his daughter; what he gets is a murderous cult on their trail and a skill set he probably hoped to leave behind. The setup does double duty, letting the awkward, halting business of reconnecting play out inside a running fight, so every scrape of danger doubles as a chance to prove something.

Ninety minutes is exactly the right length for this kind of story, and the film uses them at a clip, escalating and moving and escalating again with the emotional stakes tethered directly to the violence. It suits viewers who like their action personal and unpretentious, closer to a chase than a campaign, and who appreciate a protagonist whose competence is never in question even when everything else is. A brisk, blunt weeknight thriller that knows precisely what it came to do.