Chris is a legendary smuggler and quickly assembles a crew with the help of his best friend, Sebastian (Ben Foster), to head to Panama and return with millions in counterfeit bills. Set in New Orleans, the film explores the cutthroat underground world of international smuggling-full of desperate criminals and corrupt officials, high-stakes and big payoffs-where loyalty rarely exists and death is one wrong turn away.Ĭhris Farraday (Wahlberg) long ago abandoned his life of crime, but after his brother-in-law, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), botches a drug deal for his ruthless boss, Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi), Chris is forced back into doing what he does best-running contraband-to settle Andy’s debt. The proper proportions of optimism, realism, cynic.Mark Wahlberg leads the cast of Contraband, a white-knuckle action-thriller about a man trying to stay out of a world he worked hard to leave behind and the family he’ll do anything to protect.Review: "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"."Contraband" may not be anybody's idea of great filmmaking, but with its scene-stealing cast, a few clever potboiler scenes and another sturdy performance from Wahlberg, it left me pleasantly snookered. Simmons is a hoot as the truculent ship's captain, who's not so much offended that a known smuggler like Chris is running an operation on his boat as the fact that he wasn't cut in on the scam. (Actually, there's yet another layer of theft, which I'll leave the audience to discover.) The action goes all over the place, so that at one point Chris gets recruited into a Panamanian armored car robbery - the heist within the heist. Its plot twists telegraph themselves pretty clearly, and every performer other than Wahlberg is only afforded a few scenes to piece together any depth to their characters.īut darn it, I just couldn't help having fun. On most any level of serious consideration, "Contraband" isn't a particularly good movie. But Chris is the master of subterfuge, nicknamed Houdini for his ability to slip past other criminals and the law. This presents a logistical nightmare, since the amount of funny money needed will practically fill its own storage container. Just to show what a good bad guy Chris is, he refuses to smuggle drugs in order to pay back Briggs, opting instead to bring in counterfeit dollar bills. He's played by Ben Foster, who also does skeevy pretty well. A former partner in crime, Sebastian sets up Chris' job but doesn't accompany him on the trip to Panama. Instead, she turns to Chris' best friend Sebastian for help. After Briggs invades her home, threatens her sons with a gun and drives a truck through her hair salon, you'd think Kate would've learned 9-1-1 on her keypad. Kate Beckinsale has the thankless role as the wife, Kate, whose job is to look pretty and vulnerable, try to talk Chris out of going back to crime, and never do anything logical. Briggs makes it clear that unless Chris covers the loss, Faraday's family will be targeted. The local drug kingpin, Tim Briggs, is played by Ribisi, who has a flair for skeevy malevolence. The former king of smugglers who went straight, Chris is lured/forced into the quintessential One Last Job when his young brother-in-law (Caleb Landry Jones) screws up a shipment, tossing a batch of drugs overboard when his ship is interdicted. Walberg is Chris Faraday, the lone good guy who plays at being a bad guy. It's a rather large and motley crew of characters, good guys and bad guys and bad guys pretending to be good guys. "Contraband" has misplaced aspirations toward something a little deeper, with a fine cast that includes Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, Diego Luna and J.K. (Imagine Noomi Rapace tapped to helm the American version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.") I admit I've never heard of the star of a foreign movie directing an American actor in the Hollywood remake. "Contraband" is based, very loosely, on an Icelandic film about a smuggler, and is directed by Baltasar Kormákur, who was the star and one of the producers of the earlier movie. He specializes in playing the underdog who always seems to gain the upper hand. Lately Wahlberg's roles have gravitated more toward characters motivated to protect his family, rather than just watching his own back.īut once things get going, it's all about Wahlberg out-muscling and out-thinking his enemies. Here's a tidy little heist/thriller starring Mark Wahlberg doing what he does best: Playing the lone wolf vying against the various forces arrayed against him.
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