The film Contraband is like NASCAR racing; fast, hard, exciting, masculine but ultimately you kinda know what direction it’s all going in. Mark Wahlberg (The Italian Job, The Departed, We Own The Night) stars as Chris Farrady, a hard smuggling man turned good. Directed by Baltasar Kormákur, this film explores the story of Chris and what he would do to protect his family, even if it means returning to a lifestyle that he gave up for their sake.
Chris seems like your average American dad, and at a wedding with his wife, Kate (Kate Beckinsale), he seems like a charming, very well built, and all round nice guy. He also seems like a good guy, as when a Godfather-Mafioso type tells him he should get back in the ‘business’ he politely declines. However things take a turn for the worse when Kate’s brother messes up while drug smuggling and gets hospitalised by the crooks he was dealing for. As he’s old friends with those crooks, Chris tries to set things straight. However the bad guys, led by Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi Gone in 60 seconds, Saving Private Ryan, Avatar), don’t let Chris or his brother-in-law Andy (Caleb Landry Jones) off the hook that easily. Threatening Chris’s family, Tim demands the money back. However to get the large amount of cash back, there is only one option for Chris get back in the smuggling business.
Said to be one of the best smugglers in the business, this is exactly what Chris decides to do. However for a character who seems so proud to have gone legit, it takes very, very little coercion for him to change his mind. Clearly he misses the thrill of smuggling goods! The plan is to do a trip to Panama, get the goods, and return to settle the debt. There are some good little plot twists along the way, and some decent edge of your seat fun.
Unlike other films such as The Other Guys (where Wahlberg displays some comic sensibility), there are no surprises here with Contraband showing typical Wahlberg. His character is pretty much your stereotypical bad-guy-gone-good-but-misses-the-old-life, which we’ve seen many times before. He’s is very likeable on-screen and fits well with the context of the story, however the only criticism is that this is a very typical Wahlberg role and it does feel like we’ve seen this before.
The film has some great high action scenes, gunfights and plenty of explosions to keep you thrilled. Chris’s wife Kate and their children are in threat while Chris travels to Panama and this tool in the narrative works well to build suspense right throughout the whole film. And thankfully there are some good twists in the tale that manage to stop the film from being totally predicable.
Overall Verdict: Contraband is a great watch if other films from the Wahlberg back catalogue are your thing. There are some great locations and gripping footage; director Kormákur does a good job of bringing it all together. So although this film cannot be described as exquisite or amazing, it deserves a solid ‘good’. It may not stand out in memory as the best film you’ve ever seen but it’s still at least worth a watch.
Reviewer: Kevin van der Ham