Who doesn’t like a good smuggling movie? They’re just like heist films except that they criminals aren’t stealing anything. Plus, what makes these movies fun is that the person who orchestrates the heist is almost always pretty smart and finds creative ways to complete the job, so is the case for Baltasar Kormákur’s new film, Contraband.
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi and Kate Beckinsale, Contraband tells the story of a man named Chris Farraday (Wahlberg), a guy who was known as Houdini in the smuggling business but has quit the game to start a legitimate business and raise his family. When his dumbass brother in-law decides to smuggle cocaine into the states, customs boards the ship and he has to dump it, thus angering his dirty and violent boss, Tim Briggs (Ribisi). When Briggs threatens the life of Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), like a good husband, Chris decides to step in and run one last job in order to pay off Andy’s debt and to protect his family. With the rule being no drugs, he sets up a simple job in Panama with some old friends but, as you may have guessed, things don’t run as smoothly as they should.
Contraband is your run of the mill crime film, full of surprises that you see coming but can’t always figure out what they might be. While the movie isn’t anything revolutionary in terms of the plot, it still manages to entertain you on all basic levels and delivers exactly what you’d expect from a movie about smuggling with Wahlberg as the lead. It’s important to keep in mind that this isn’t as intelligent or as witty as Ocean’s 11 nor is it as adrenaline fueled as Gone in 60 Seconds, a film whose plot is strikingly similar but has a ton more style.
One major issue I had with the film has nothing to do with the predictability of it, but rather how repetitive it gets. For spoiler reasons I can’t explain everything but what I can say is that Briggs visits Chris’ wife and family on multiple occasions, progressively angering Chris to the point where he will want to hunt him down and kill him in typical Wahlberg fashion. It happens about four times which is one time too many and it adds about 10 
minutes onto the film. Instead of getting to the point right away, it felt like Kormákur wanted to hold onto the American audience just a little longer for his English language debut feature.
Now we turn to the performances. The acting greatly varies in the film as Giovanni Ribisi steals every scene he is in simply because he is just sooo good at playing an evil bastard. Ben Foster also does a pretty good job as Chris’s best friend and confidant, Sebastian, the guy who stays back and makes sure nobody goes after Chris’ family. I was actually surprised by Kate Beckinsale’s performance as it didn’t feel fake, which is a great change, especially since the role requires a bit of drama unlike the Underworld franchise where the action and her good looks are enough to get her by. As for Mark Wahlberg, well, it’s Mark Wahlberg. If you’ve seen any of his movies he pretty much acts the same. He shows some charm, some anger, exhibits violence and, at times, can make us laugh but his performance never really changes nor is it engrossing but it’s enough to keep me entertained.
I may be a sucker for these types of movies, but of all the film’s that will be released this weekend, I’d recommend you see Contraband over anything else. At times it can be a really fun ride, other moments can be a little dull but the most important thing is that you leave not feeling completely cheated, which is more than I can say for a majority of films that hit the theaters.
Rating: A well acted and semi-enjoyable foray into the creative world of smuggling (5.8/10)
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