¨You were the best of the best, but the proudest
day of my life was when you turned legit.¨
Contraband was one of those surprisingly good
action thrillers which I really wasn’t expecting much considering we`ve seen
several heist movies like this before and the director was the relatively
unknown, Baltasar Kormkakur from Iceland. He might be popular in his country,
but this is the first film he`s produced in Hollywood. Mark Wahlberg has proven
before that he can make great heist thrillers, and this film is just as
surprisingly entertaining as The Italian Job. Wahlberg gives a really great
performance in the lead role and I`m guessing by now that he can star in these
films blindfolded. He also had a strong supporting cast that made this film
even better, but what I enjoyed the most about this film was the script. Yes,
some twists were predictable, but it kept my interest and had me at the edge of
my seat throughout the entire movie. Contraband was actually a remake of the 2008
Icelandic film, Reykjavik, which starred Kormkakur in the lead role. The script
was adapted by Aaron Guzikowski and the action now takes place in between the
United States and Panama instead of in Rotterdam. Contraband really worked for
me as an entertaining thriller with a couple of twists and surprises (some more
predictable than others, but well constructed). I really enjoyed this film.
Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg) is happily
married to Kate (Kate Beckinsale) and they have two children together. He used
to be a very successful smuggler, but turned his life around after meeting
Kate. They are very happy together, and Chris`s former smuggling partner,
Sebastian (Ben Foster), with whom he is still very close is also getting his
life back on track. Everything seems to be going really well until Kate
receives a call from her brother, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), who is at the
hospital after having been beat up by a drug dealer named Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi).
Andy had been smuggling cocaine on freighters for Briggs and had to dump the
last package after the DEA had ambushed them. Briggs will kill Andy, if he doesn’t
get his money back from the deal, but Chris promises to repay him before any more
harm is done. Chris decides to smuggle counterfeit currency from Panama in
order to repay the debt, but in order to do so he will have to form a team in
the freighter which will allow him to buy more time, while his family is being
threatened by Briggs and his gang.
Mark Wahlberg is a true actions tar and he is
really entertaining in this movie, but he also had a great secondary cast
including Kate Beckinsale who looked lovely as usual, Ben Foster who is always
really creepy, Giovanni Ribisi who is always very unpredictable, JK Simmons who
has a more serious role despite the fact that he always makes you laugh, and
Diego Luna who plays a Panamanian criminal. I really enjoyed Luna`s short performance,
his scene was really interesting and one of the highlights of the film. Contraband
begins to accumulate the tension as we reach the final climatic scene. I
thought it played out perfectly and that the film was really well edited and
choreographed. The movie was entertaining from start to finish, it was a well
constructed heist thriller (not perfect, but fun nonetheless).
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