Director: Baltasar Kormakur
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, Caleb Landry Jones
Running time: 109 minutes
Certificate: 15
Synopsis: Ex-smuggler extraordinaire Chris (Wahlberg) is forced out of retirement in order to help his brother-in-law pay off a bad debt for a bungled drug run. Reluctant to risk his new life as a straight-and-narrow family man, Chris plans a quick and easy job. However, the fates conspire against him and he is forced to deviate from the plan when gangsters threaten his family’s safety in his absence…
Who likes a good caper? THN likes a good caper, and though initially perturbed by having to spend 109 minutes watching a movie starring Marky Mark Wahlberg, we’d be lying if we said we weren’t pleasantly surprised. CONTRABAND is a fun and farcical heist movie that never taxes the brain, but maintains an energetic pace and continually ups the ante to keep the audience engaged.
In order to protect his brother-in-law and the rest of his family, Chris heads to Panama to buy some counterfeit money. However, sub-standard goods force him to visit the dangerous crime lord Gonzalo (played by that comely lad Diego Luna). Meanwhile Andy, under the suspect direction of Chris’ best friend Sebastian (Ben Foster), goes AWOL to spend the buy-money on drugs. In order to pay Gonzalo, Chris is forced to do a job robbing an armoured vehicle. All this is just the middle part of the movie! There’s still the small matter of smuggling both Chris’s funny money AND Andy’s drugs back into the US. And if that wasn’t enough action and jeopardy for you, all is not as it appears back home and Chris’ family are in grave danger.
What CONTRABAND does really well is keep the story chugging along. It’s a testament to first-time screenwriter Aaron Guzikoski’s talents that there isn’t a dull moment. Also, exposition of the characters and their relationships is never forced, occurring naturally alongside a tangled plot that in lesser hands could’ve seemed contrived and unbelievable. For the most part the film has an A-TEAM-esque feel as we see Wahlberg and his cronies prepping the functional facets of their heist and wonder how each element will come into play later on. Icelandic director Kormakur directs both action and drama well, successfully maintaining a niggling tension throughout in Giovanni Ribisi’s harassment of Kate Beckinsale. The Panama gun battle is the film’s biggest and best action sequence, with Wahlberg trapped in a crossfire of bullets. It is flinchingly tense, but one has to wonder whether the criminals’ duct-tape disguises are all that practical. Regardless of how much swag they bag, surely it’s going to hurt when the time comes to take it off? Balaclavas next time we think.
Now for a word on our actors – BRILLIANT! Here we have a great ensemble cast who, aside from Wahlberg and a refreshingly-blonde Beckinsale, are faces you’ll know but with names that might escape you. Firstly, bless Ben Foster’s heart. He’s been plugging away for years now in supporting roles in great movies (30 DAYS OF NIGHT, 3:10 TO YUMA, RAMPART) but as 2009’s PANDORUM exemplified, he just can’t cut the mustard as the lead. Regardless, he’s great in CONTRABAND as a man whose smile hides sinister motivations. Alongside him we have great appearances from Lukas Haas (INCEPTION), the scary David O’Hara (THE DEPARTED), and the always-a-pleasure-to-watch J.K. Simmons (JUNO). This is a real top quality cast with all involved giving subtle and serious performances, bolstering the film’s overall credibility. The only suspect perpetration would have to be Giv-Rib, who over-eggs his hillbilly accent to the point where it’s a little too squeaky and nasally to take seriously.
Despite THN’s outpouring of praise for CONTRABAND, let’s be clear; this is a fun but pretty standard movie. Watch it, enjoy it, and then forget about it. The main word here is ENTERTAINMENT and it’s a good enough watch. Like any heist movie worth its salt, there is an enjoyable reveal at the end that shows just how Wahlberg gets away with it. The bust at Captain Camp’s (Simmons) house is a clever and amusing comeuppance for the film’s villains.
Though CONTRABAND is standard and predictable stuff, there is an odd ethical conundrum in Wahlberg’s ‘acquisition’ of a rare Jackson Pollack painting. Does this prove that crime does pay… ?!
CONTRABAND is released in UK cinemas 16th March.
