Director Baltasar Kormakur, who starred in the Icelandic version of thus film (yes, Contraband is a remake of a foreign film) gives the film such a depressing, meandering visual style, in my opinion actually removes a lot of the entertainment in the story. When Wahlberg is on screen, the story bubbles along nicely and remains quite tense when the action cuts back to his family and the tension back in the USA (Faraday spends a great deal of this film away from the USA) things run a little soft. What makes Contraband less than great, though, is the fact that it’s often quite slowly paced, and nearly over-produced to within an inch of its life. The action, when it arrives, is brutal and chaotic. The premise is simple: take “one last job” to save the life of somebody too stupid to know better, while putting your own family in harms way.
Robert wahlberg contraband movie#
The plot is tight, the characters well defined, and yet somehow the movie manages to miss the mark and really launch itself as a genre classic. Okay, I love your sister.Ĭontraband is almost a great film. Family friend, Sebastian (Ben Foster) takes Kate and the boys under protection, although local drug runner Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi) is intent on seeing Faraday succeed by putting pressure on him through his family. With a price on Andy’s head so large he cannot hope to pay it off, Chris decides to get back in the game to save his brother-in-law. Kate’s brother Andy (Caleb Landry Jones) is – against his sisters wishes – involved in the smuggling trade, although when a trip goes wrong and he’s forced to ditch a payload, those who made the payment come after him to extract their revenge. Chris is an ex criminal, known as a master smuggler in his day, and a guy whose father is currently locked up and doing time. what the hell are you doing at The Bar None?Ĭhris Faraday (Mark Wahlberg) lives with his wife Kate (Kate Beckinsale) and their two sons in New Orleans. So what of Contraband, an action/thriller set against the backdrop of New Orleans and the Panama smuggling trade? Does Contraband bring back the glory days of The Big Hit, or is it actually a Big Miss? I don’t always enjoy a Wahlberg performance, but I give the dude props for always trying to step out of his comfort zone. He lacks the raw intensity of other action stars, yet doesn’t seem to let that stop him giving it a red hot go. Wahlberg is an actor I normally consider “vanilla” not quite as rough as a Bruce Willis or a Stallone, nor as slick as Statham’s brooding, menacing approach, but a softly-softly style that sets him apart from the majority of his film-making brethren. Wahlberg, who cut his teeth in action films on The Big Hit, Three Kings and The Perfect Storm, has managed to carve a fairly dependable CV from his time in Hollywood he’s not what you’d consider a frontrunner for an action movie, but when he does transition from dramatic roles such as The Fighter to outright action, he does a commendable job. If Jason Statham is the go-to guy for dependable b-movies in England, then Mark Wahlberg must surely be his American equivalent. While moments in this film are well made, there’s plenty of dull spots between them, resulting in a film which attains “so-so” status, not the exciting greatness the trailers would aspire to. Contraband is an opaque look into the seedy underworld of smuggling between South America and the USA, although through the lens of Mark Wahlberg’s rather bland characterization of Chris Faraday’s stand-up criminal. What we think : Violent, nearly-awesome action/thriller plays more like a drama than an outright genre film, giving itself to the audience only in fits and spurts the action is lackluster, the plot twists shocking (although perhaps not unexpected) and the production shrouded in darkness for much of its screen time. While he’s travelling to Panama to secure a job large enough to erase the debt, his wife and children remain in danger from a local criminal and his henchmen.
Synopsis: Ex smuggler Chris Faraday must return to a life he left behind on order to stop his wife’s brother being killed after a drug run goes wrong. Principal Cast : Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, Lukas Haas, Caleb Landry Jones, JK Simmons, Robert Wahlberg, David O’Hara, Diego Luna.
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